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MEMOIRS 



OF 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN/ 



OP 



HARTFORD, CONN. 



WITH LETTERS AND INCIDENTAL SUBJECTS. 






BY WILLIAM PATTEN, D. D- 



An old disciple." — Acts xxi. 16. 



HARTFORD: 

PRINTED BY P. QANFIELD. 
1834. 



fp3kP3 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, by 
William Patten, in the Clerk's office of the District Court ol 
Connecticut. 



CONTENTS, 



PART I. 

Page 
FROM HER BIRTH TO HER MARRIAGE. 

Her parentage and early education ... 6 

Her religious experience, as related in her public 

profession . . . . . . .12 

Her early character and employment , . .15 



PART 11. 

FROM HER MARRIAGE TO THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND. 

Sketch of Rev. William Patten . . . .18 

Residence of Mrs. Patten in Halifax; with the edu- 
cation of her children . . .20 



Removal to Hartford, and manner of life 
Death of her eldest son .... 
Dismission of Mr. Patten from his pastoral relation 
Death of Mrs. Patten's servant 
Death of her youngest son 

Sickness of her husband, and journey to Roxbury 
Her return, and the death of her husband 
Concluding sketch of Mr. Patten 



26 
32 
39 

40 
41 
43 
45 

48 



PART III. 

FROM THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND TO HER OWN DECEASE. 

Her circumstances after the death of her husband . 49 
The decease of her youngest daughter ... 58 



IV CONTENTS. 

Her visit to her father in his last sickness . . 59 
The remarkable deliverance of her eldest son . 6 1 

Her residence in Newport, R. I. . . .68 

Her return, and the commencement of a school by 

her daughters, and assisted by her younger son . 69 
Her hospitality and liberality . . . .74 

Brought near to death by two visitations . . 80 

The sickness and death of her younger son . . 83 
The succeeding scenes and experiences of her life, 

till her death 87 

Poetical tributes to her memory, 

By A 96 

By Mrs. Sigourney . . ... .98 

Extracts from a funeral sermon delivered by her 

son 100 

Remarks on the public relation she gave of her 

Christian experience . . • . .108 

Her family connexions . . . .« .123 

Letters . . ., , . . . .128 



MEMOIRS 

OF 

MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 



The following Memoirs will not bring into 
view a woman of high literary attainments, or 
who moved in a very conspicuous course of 
public usefulness ; but one of local and do- 
mestic habits, of good sense, of kind affec- 
tions, of unaffected piety, who was a blessing 
in all the relations she sustained, and was dis- 
tinguished for fortitude and hope in every 
trial. 

Her example, in being adapted to those in 
the ordinary walks of life, may be more ex- 
tensively beneficial, than if she had moved in 
a sphere in which but few can expect to be 
placed. 

1 



O MEMOIRS OF 

As her duties were connected with the va- 
rious scenes and relations of life, instead of 
selecting and exhibiting them as distinct traits 
of character, the chronological order will be 
observed, of considering her — from her birth to 
her marriage, from her marriage to the death 
of her husband, and from the death of her 
husband to her own decease, together with 
those incidental subjects which belong to each 
of these seasons. 

I. 

FROM HER. BIRTH TO HER MARRIAGE. 

Her father was the Rev. Eieazar Wheelock, 
D. D., of Lebanon, Conn., whose reputation as 
a faithful pastor, and as a popular and power- 
ful preacher in itinerant excursions, is not 
yet forgotten ; though he is better known as 
the founder of Moor's charity school, in favor 
of civilizing and christianizing the Indians, 
and of Dartmouth College in N. II. primarily 
intended for the education of Missionaries, 
and of young men for the ministry ; which re- 
main as monuments of his christian enterprize 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 7 

and benevolent exertions. It may be proper 
to remark, that his private piety corresponded 
to his public acts. The writer heard him say, 
not long before his death, that it was his cus- 
tom, after the labors of the day were con- 
cluded, to retire for self-examination, and 
that for twenty yea,rs he had not laid aside his 
clothes at night, without being willing never 
to put them on again. 

Her mother was Sarah, a daughter of the 
Rev. John Davenport, first minister of Stam- 
ford, Conn., who was son of the Rev. John 
Davenport, founder and pastor of the first 
church in New Haven, and afterwards pastor 
of a church in Boston, Mass., both of whom 
were men of ability and eminence, especially 
the latter, who had great influence in the civil 
and ecclesiastical affairs of New England. 

When Dr. Wheelock married this daughter, 
she was the widow of a Mr. Maltby, of New 
Haven, by whom she had three children, a son 
and two daughters. The son was educated 
for the ministry, and, for a number of years, 
was the much loved pastor of a church in Ber- 



8 MEMOIRS OF 

muda, West Indies. He afterwards removed 
to Charleston, S. C. One of the daughters 
died in youth, an example of patience and 
piety ; the other married Dr. Betts, of Nor- 
walk, Conn. The descendants of the son and 
this daughter are respectable, and reside in 
each of those places. 

Mrs. Sarah Wheelock was a woman of a 
meek and quiet spirit, active in duty, patient 
in trial, given to hospitality. So endeared 
was she to her husband, by her natural and 
moral qualities, that her gravestone bears the 
inscription, that her character was too estimable 
for an epitaph. 

She had, by this marriage, four children ; 
Theodora, who married Alexander Phelps, 
Esq. of Hebron, Conn., afterwards of Oxford, 
N. H. ; Ruth, the subject of the present me- 
moir ; and Ralph, who was an assistant of his 
father, and an acceptable preacher of the gos- 
pel ; but in consequence of epilepsy from early 
life, he was disqualified for becoming a stated 
pastor, and finally for any useful labors. 

Ruth Wheelock was born March 4th, 1740. 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 9 

She was an intelligent, docile child ; and in 
her early years received all those advantages 
of education, which the schools in her native 
village could furnish. In addition to these 
instructions, she was placed, for a time, in the 
family of the Rev. Timothy Edwards of Wind- 
sor, Conn., two of whose daughters taught a 
select school for needle work, composition, 
and various branches of mental and moral 
improvements, in which this pupil made com- 
mendable proficiency, and was highly es- 
teemed and beloved by the family, and by all 
who were acquainted with her. 

She early attained maturity. At fourteen 
years of age, she might, for stature and dis- 
cretion, be reputed eighteen. From her own 
good sense and taste, as well as from the ex- 
ample of those with whom she associated, she 
acquired a delicacy and refinement of man- 
ners, which highly recommended her. She 
was neither presuming, nor bashful. It was 
not, in her, the " perfection of art to con- 
ceal art;" but she acted from nature, in 
manifesting a delicate sensibility and what- 

1* 



10 MEMOIRS OF 

ever was winning in conversation and ad- 
dress. 

Her education did not disincline her from 
taking a part in domestic affairs. For this 
she had an opportunity, as her father had en- 
tered on the plan of evangelizing the heathen, 
and had obtained several sons of chiefs of dif- 
ferent tribes, and from time to time the num- 
ber was increased. 

These he received into his family, and ad- 
mitted to his table, thinking it would favor his 
object to treat them as his own children ; and 
he took several } r oung men to educate as 
school-masters and missionaries, so that, at 
times, his family amounted to more than thirty. 

In the scene of diversified industry and care 
thus opened, this daughter cheerfully engaged, 
and was unceasing and untiring in her opera- 
tions. She never complained, was always 
alert, and appeared with a cheerful counte- 
nance, though she often abridged her hours 
of rest ; and the result of her diversified en- 
gagements appeared, in some instances, al- 
most a prodigy. 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 11 

Her father she highly venerated and loved. 
She entered warmly into his views, did all in 
her power to alleviate his cares and promote 
his designs. So lovely and deserving a 
daughter was she, that he said, at the close of 
his life, that he " never had reproved her but 
once ; and he afterwards found, that then he 
was under a mistake, that she was not in 
fault." 

Her naturally active and pleasant disposi- 
tion was strengthened, and rendered uniform, 
and she was furnished with a purer and higher 
principle of action, by early piety. Before 
she was fourteen years of age she made a 
public profession of religion. 

Of the commencement and nature of her 
religious experience there is no other record, 
than the public relation she gave, on admission 
to the church. Though in relations of this 
kind, which were then generally required, 
there may be something of the same form, yet 
it must be believed, that they expressed the 
exercises, which were peculiar to each indi- 
vidual. That which was offered in this case 



12 MEMOIRS OF 

may, therefore, be considered as an authentic 
account of her conversion. 

The following is an abstract from the re- 
lation : 

" The mercy of God, in giving me a being 
and education in a land of gospel light, has 
appeared to me very great ; and I think 
I have looked back, with regret, on my mis- 
improvement of distinguished privileges and 
advantages ; and especially seasons and means 
of grace, which I have enjoyed in such fulness. 
The patience, condescension and grace of 
God have appeared wonderful, that, after all, 
he should, not only indulge me with the out- 
ward means of salvation, but strive with me 
by his Holy Spirit. 

" There have been several seasons, of late, in 
which I have been awakened, and much con- 
cerned respecting my eternal state ; but 
worldly cares have, by little and little, crowded 
such thoughts and interests out of my mind. 
But about ten weeks ago, by reading a book of 
Mr. Allen, ; On the certainty and suddenness of 
the appearance of Christ to judgment? I was 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 13 

more awakened, and more deeply impressed, 
so that I could take no comfort in any thing, 
and but little rest day, or night. 

I attempted obedience to the law ; but did 
not find that fruit from it which I expected, 
either in good works, or consolation. My 
heart was without that love which the law re- 
quired ; and I appeared to myself far from 
salvation, and not even in the way of it. I 
was blind, and my heart was hard. The most 
weighty and solemn considerations possible, 
were lost upon me ; and I saw it was not in 
the power of means to change my heart ; but 
that it must be the work of God ; and yet, that 
the voluntary enmity of my heart to God and 
Christ was the only bar to my salvation. I 
saw myself to be in the hands of a just, righ- 
teous and sovereign God ; and myself to be a 
most hateful creature, fit only to be made a 
vessel of wrath. 

" In the evening, while walking in my cham- 
ber alone, in great distress, thinking of giving 
my heart to God, wishing I knew how to do it, 
and crying to God to teach me, and enable me 



14 memoirs or 

to do it, I felt a love for Christ, on which my 
distress ceased, and I was filled with light and 

" This I did not suppose to be conversion ; 
and when I went down, and some inferred, 
from a change in my countenance, that my 
state was changed, I was in fear of their mis- 
take, and felt concerned that my concern w r as 
gone. Still I rejoiced ; I could not help re- 
joicing. My heart was full of sweetness, full 
of love. Christ appeared such a Saviour as I 
wanted ; and, though he should not save me, 
I could not but rejoice in him. 

"This was the frame of my heart, in general, 
till the next Sabbath, which w r as such a Sab- 
bath as I have never seen before. Then I 
could say, A day in thy courts is better than a 
thousand elsewhere ; and hearing a discourse 
on Assurance, I began to think I had already 
experienced a saving change. 

" I continued comfortable till the next Sab- 
bath ; and then my joys were much higher. 
My heart and soul said, How amiable are thy 
tabernacles, O Lord of hosts ! I chose them 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 15 

for my abode, and wished to dwell in the house 
of the Lord forever. I was grieved when the 
worship of God was finished, and that the time 
was come, when I must leave his house. I 
find another love to all parts of religious wor- 
ship and duty, another love to saints and sin- 
ners, than I ever had before. 

" I think it to be the full purpose of my heart, 
to forsake all sin, even whatever is displeasing 
to God, and to devote myself wholly to his 
service and glory forever. 

" I desire now, publicly, to enlist unfier 
Christ's banner ; and ye are witnesses of my 
solemn vows and covenant engagements to be 
the Lord's ; and will be witnesses against me, 
if ever I forsake him, and prove false to his 
covenant." 

The change in her heart and views, here 
stated, did not produce so visible a change in 
her temper and conduct, as is seen in some 
other instances, as she had always been regu- 
lar, and moral, and affectionate. It may be 
repeated, that religion did not suppress these 



16 MEMOIRS OF 

natural affections, nor seclude her from that 
social intercourse and those employments, 
which are proper in themselves, and which her 
situation required. 

Natural affections are an important and ex- 
tensive medium of exhibiting the influence of 
religion. To be without them is to be worse than 
an infidel, since an infidel may have natural 
affections ; the want of them, therefore, shows 
the influence of sin beyond the mere denial 
of Christ. 

The natural affections in her were regulated 
and strengthened, and the expression of them 
rendered more consistent and uniform, on her 
being sanctified. In the ordinances of religion, 
and all the means of christian improvement, 
she manifested a lively interest, not only by 
the regularity of her attention to them, but by 
her remarks. She was most pleased with that 
preaching which was most evangelical and 
impressive ; and with those books, and that 
conversation which were most adapted to 
inform the mind and warm the heart. The 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 17 

light of the sun was not more pleasing to her 
natural eye, than the light of truth to her 
soul. 

At the age of eighteen she was considered 
one of the most accomplished and interesting 
of young women. 

It was to her credit, that it was never her 
object vainly to attract the attention of young 
men ; and if she had not opportunities to se- 
lect one, as a companion for life, she never 
felt a preference, till she received the offer of 
which she accepted. In this she had the ap- 
probation of her father, who made no other 
objection, than the fear that the connexion 
might not be lasting, as a person so extraor- 
dinary must soon become mature for a higher 
world. 

II. 

FROM HER MARRIAGE TO THE DEATH OP HER 
HUSBAND. 

She was married June 9th, 1758, to the 
Rev. William Patten, pastor of a church in 
Halifax, Plymouth county, Mass. 

2 



18 MEMOIRS OF 

William Patten was born in Billerica, Mass., 
March 22d, 1738. His parents were Nathaniel 
and Mary Patten, of that place. They were 
both pious, well educated, and much esteemed 
for their exemplary conduct, their kindness 
as neighbors, and the interest they took in 
whatever called for their sympathy or aid. 

They had three sons and one daughter, all 
of whom sustained good characters, and were 
in reputable standing in society. 

William was their second son ; and from 
childhood was remarkable for his observa- 
tion and intelligence. When five years old, 
he composed a sermon on the first verse in the 
Bible, the sentiments and connection of which 
excited the surprise of his friends. 

His parents, with the hope that he might 
be a preacher of the gospel, determined to 
give him a public education ; and to facili- 
tate this object, removed to Cambridge ; and 
he was admitted a member of Harvard Col- 
lege in that place, when about twelve years 
of age. 

Through his collegiate course he incurred 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 19 

no censure ; but was highly esteemed for his 
courteous and regular conduct, and commend- 
ed for his diligence in study, and his attain- 
ments in the various branches of science. He 
seemed at that time, and through life, to have 
an almost intuitive perception of every sub- 
ject to which he attended, so as to have little 
need of an instructor. 

After graduating he determined to devote 
himself to the ministry ; and, as was cus- 
tomary in those days, engaged in a school in 
Dedham, Mass., and pursued his theological 
studies under the superintendance and advice 
of the Rev. Mr. Havens, pastor of a church in 
that place. 

Of the commencement and particular cir- 
cumstances of his religious experience, he has 
left no record; but that he was then a Christian 
may be inferred, from the favorable opinion 
of his parents, and of the church to which 
he became united, and of the minister under 
whom he studied. It may likewise be in- 
ferred, from a confession of his faith present- 
ed, soon after, to a council for his ordination ; 



20 MEMOIRS OF 

and from the judgment of the council, as it 
was a practice to examine a candidate for or- 
dination, in his experimental acquaintance 
with religion, as well as in his doctrinal know- 
ledge. 

Earlier than he had intended, he was per- 
suaded to enter on the ministry by engaging 
in an occasional supply of the pulpit in Hali- 
fax, for two or three Sabbaths. But before 
the time expired, he received a unanimous call 
from the church and people to become their 
pastor. The objections, from his youth and 
inexperience, were over-ruled by the importu- 
nity of the people, and the advice of his 
friends ; and he was ordained Feb. 2d, 1757, 
seven weeks before he was nineteen years of 
age. 

The people of Halifax, from the character 
given of Mrs. Patten, anticipated much profit 
and pleasure in her society, and hailed her ar- 
rival with great joy. To say the least, they 
were not disappointed. Her agreeable ap- 
pearance and manners, her familiar inter- 
course with them, her hospitality, her chns- 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 21 

tian example, and the interest she took in their 
welfare, rendered her an object of universal 
respect and love. 

She here became the mother of five chil- 
dren, Eleazar Wheelock, Sarah, William, 
Ruth and Mary, to whom she attended with 
the kindest maternal affection, and to their 
instruction in religion from the earliest dawn 
of reason. 

She was blessed with the subdued temper 
and harmless conduct of all of them ; so that 
a ministerial acquaintance once said, that if 
any children w r ere free from original depravi- 
ty, he should suppose them to be her's. 

The eldest, born March 14th, 1759, was re- 
markable for his observation and early piety. 
When only a year and nine months old he 
went from the room in which his mother was 
sitting, and called the maid and boy in the 
kitchen to come to prayer. They followed 
him, and seating himself with great serious- 
ness in his little armed chair, he opened his 
child's book, and made as though he were 
reading a portion of Scripture. He then 

2* 



22 MEMOIRS OF 

arose, and, leaning his chair against his 
breast, said, " Infinitely great, and incompre- 
hense Majesty," Here his mother checked 
him, presuming he did not understand the 
meaning of the words, which had probably 
been used by his father in the morning pray- 
er, and that there would be an irreverence in 
his proceeding. 

Three years after this, he came one day to 
his mother, trembling and with anxiety in his 
countenance, and enquired, " What he should 
do to be saved ?" Taking him on her knee, she 
attempted to ascertain the ground of his dis- 
tress. He said, " he was a sinner." She then 
spake to him of Jesus Christ ; of his dying for 
sinners, and willingness to save all who repent 
of sin, and trust in him. The child was 
quieted, and went away. 

His mother did not apprehend any saving 
change till three months after, when, having 
spoken to her little family of the character of 
Christ, she added, " But I fear that not one 
of you loves him." To which this son replied, 
" I am sure, Ma', that I do." The hope that 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 23 

he did love him was confirmed by observing 
his general temper, his interest in devotion, 
and his consciousness of what was morally 
right and wrong when it had not been pointed 
out to him, enquiring, when he heard, or saw 
what was improper in other children, whether 
it was not wicked ? 

That mankind are naturally depraved was 
believed by Mrs. Patten ; and the doctrine, if 
true, lies at the foundation of religious educa- 
tion. That the doctrine is true, appears from 
Scripture, in which it is taught explicitly and 
by implication, in various passages. 

The gospel dispensation is founded on the 
fact, that mankind naturally, or as related to 
the first Adam, are in a state of sin ; in cor- 
respondence to which, Christ, as the second 
Adam, is represented as the Saviour of all 
men, and especially of them that believe. 

Man is born with all the endowments and 
faculties he will ever possess. He has a 
body, to which there will be no addition of a 
feature, or member ; but only a growth. He 
has also the same intellectual and moral facul- 



24 MEMOIRS OF 

ties, which, as he advances in age, will be un- 
folded and brought to maturity. 

If a child have intellectual and moral facul- 
ties, there must be some exercise of them. Its 
thoughts are not the thoughts of an animal ; 
its will is not the will of an animal. It has not 
a responsibility above its intellectual capacity; 
but to say that it has not a moral character is 
to deny the possibility of its being good, or 
the necessity of its being saved by Christ, and 
leads to the belief of its annihilation. 

The doctrine of the natural depravity of 
man does not require the belief, that any who 
die in infancy are lost. This is not a neces- 
sary consequence of the doctrine ; nor is it 
asserted in Scripture, as a ground of faith. 
But the doctrine is important, as furnishing a 
subject of prayer, and a principle of instruc- 
tion, that the opening mind may be referred 
to Christ, who, as the only Saviour of the 
world, is the only ground of hope. 

In the mysterious course of Divine Provi- 
dence Mr. Patten, after a ministry of nine 
years, was brought to the conclusion, that it 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 25 

would contribute to his own usefulness, and 
be, indeed, for the benefit of the people, for 
him to remove to some other place. To his 
request for a dismission, there was a general 
objection. He therefore invited a council to 
give their advice on the subject. But it ap- 
peared to them in so dubious a light, that they 
referred it back to him and the church, for a 
determination. As he continued under the 
persuasion, in which he thought he was disin- 
terested, as there was no other place which he 
had particularly in view, the church finally 
gave their consent ; and his pastoral relation 
to them, but with an affectionate and full re- 
commendation of his character, was dissolved 
September 5th, 1766. 

In this trial Mrs. Patten meekly acquiesced 
in the will of her heavenly Father, though she 
was deeply affected, with concern for the 
church and people ; and that the prospect of 
continuing in a place, so endeared to her in 
many respects, should so soon be closed. But 
she had the gratification afterwards to know, 



26 MEMOIRS OF 

that the object of Mr. Patten in requesting a 
dismission was, as it respected the people, 
realized ; that it was, indeed, a sacrifice for 
their good. 

Mr. Patten, after continuing at liberty about 
a year, received an invitation to become col- 
league pastor with the Rev. Elnathan Whit- 
man, of the South church, in Hartford, Conn., 
and in that office he was installed September 
23d, 1767. 

That this situation was more public than 
the one he had left did not recommend it to 
Mrs. Patten. But it was agreeable to her 
as it brought her in the vicinity of her father, 
and in connexion with some who had formerly 
been her acquaintances j and she was willing 
to exert her influence in doing good, in a more 
extensive and conspicuous field of labor. 

As there were, in those days, but few bene- 
volent institutions or charitable societies, to 
give encouragement to religious enterprise, 
her usefulness is to be considered in her con- 
duct in the family, in her intercourse with the 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 27 

church and people with whom she had be- 
come connected, and in doing good as there 
were other opportunities for it. 

She attended to every domestic duty, par- 
ticularly the religious care of her children. 
She was regular in observing all the public 
ordinances of religion, and strict in domestic, 
and so far as can be known, in secret devo- 
tion. She was very hospitable to ministers 
and other guests ; and in the parish expressed 
a suitable regard for those of different classes, 
and in different circumstances. She was not 
more accessible to the rich than to the poor. 
Though wealth and refinement have a claim 
to respect, yet those in humble stations are 
equally entitled to regard. They may be more 
benefitted by attentions, and often receive 
them with more gratitude. A minister and 
his wife have indeed no particular rank in 
society. They are not below the highest, nor 
above the lowest ; but are equally related to 
all, as they are devoted to the spiritual wel- 
fare of all. Of this Mrs. Patten gave an im- 
partial example ; none thought that she des- 



28 MEMOIRS OF 

pised and neglected them, nor any that she 
was disposed to flatter. 

Among other means of being useful, she 
undertook the instruction of female people of 
color, inviting them to her house several even- 
ings in the week, which she continued much 
to their improvement, till discountenanced by 
some to whom their services belonged. 

She maintained, though not a scrutinizing, 
yet a strict and habitual watchfulness over her 
children. She conversed with them daily on 
religion. She required them, not merely to pray 
by repeating forms of prayer ; but to retire 
and offer their thoughts and desires in their 
own language. When able to read, she re- 
quired them to read every day a portion of 
the Scriptures. She often importuned them 
not to defer religion, but resolve that they 
would immediately devote to it their attention, 
and their hearts. When she put them to bed 
she would converse and pray with them, 
kneeling by their side. Maternal authority 
and tenderness were so blended, in these ser- 
vices, that the children were pleased ; and 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 29 

were impressed with the conviction, that what 
she did was her duty, and what she enjoined 
was theirs. 

The government, in general, was founded 
on moral principle. She forbad nothing which 
her children did not believe to be wrong ; she 
commanded nothing which they did not be- 
lieve to be right. This gave scope for every 
reasonable liberty ; and she was loved, as very 
indulgent, and added the influence of con- 
science to other motives, for submitting to her 
restraints. In this way, she rarely had occa- 
sion for any chastisement ; and in maintaining 
order, her children were affectionate to each 
other, and to her. 

She was a woman of devotion. It was her 
custom, on all occasions, to resort to the 
throne of grace, and make known her wants 
and desires to God, in communing with 
whom was her delight, and in whom she had 
filial confidence. 

She was fervent as well as frequent in 
prayer. The writer recollects, that when a 
little child, he went into a vacant room, and 

3 



30 MEMOIRS OF 

heard a low voice, as of one in distress. Ap- 
proaching the apartment from which the 
sound proceeded, the door of which was 
closed, he discovered that it was the voice of 
his mother in prayer — in prayer for her chil- 
dren, that they might be brought to love and 
serve God, and saved from everlasting death. 
This was the first serious impression on his 
mind in favor of religion. He felt, that it 
must be something different from the will and 
d.esire of his mother ; and, in itself, of infinite 
importance. 

She was scrupulous that her emotions 
should not betray her secret devotion ; and 
she would, doubtless, have suppressed them 
on this occasion, had she not supposed that 
she was out of the hearing, even of a child. 
Her private devotions were strictly secret. 

In her intercourse with God, she had, at 
times, such a spirit of prayer, that, as she mo- 
destly said, she seemed to know, by her free- 
dom, or restraint, for what to pray ; that what 
she requested was granted, and what she 
could not request she found afterwards could 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 31 

not have been granted, had it been desired. 
This, however, was limited in her to particu- 
lar cases, as it doubtless is to the most fa- 
vored Christians. The prayers of saints are 
founded on the promises of God ; and imply 
the desire that his will may be done. Yet it 
is not known in what manner his promises 
will be accomplished: what particular good 
will be denied, or evil permitted in order to 
their fulfilment. The general encouragement 
of the saints to pray, and their consolation in 
it, consist in their feeling a conformity to the 
will of God, and a confidence in his promises ; 
in which sense it is certain, their prayers will 
be answ r ered, and the greatest possible good 
be produced. 

Yet when God intends to bestow some 
particular benefit, or to avert, or remove, some 
particular evil, he may excite desires in his 
people for the bestowment of that benefit, or 
deliverance from that evil, and thus answer 
their prayers for particular good. Such de- 
sires it would not be consistent for God to 



32 MEMOIRS OF 

deny ; and in exciting and fulfilling them, he 
gives a special proof that he hears prayer. 
But there is reason for caution, lest the ear- 
nest desire of a thing, should be considered 
an evidence that it will be granted. The de- 
sire may originate in natural affection, or 
sympathy, and not in a supreme regard for 
God, and the interests of his kingdom ; and 
the disappointment of the desire may induce 
the conclusion, that all prayers offered by the 
person are unavailing. 

Soon after the removal of the family to 
Hartford, they were brought into great afflic- 
tion, by a calamity which befel the eldest son. 
In attempting to save himself from a danger- 
ous fall, he wrenched his back, which disabled 
him from walking, and brought on a rapid 
decline. 

During his confinement he suffered but lit- 
tle pain ; but his situation was wearisome, and 
attended with various distresses ; through the 
whole he manifested sweetness of temper, and 
calmness of mind, submitting to God, and in- 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 33 

dulging a meek hope of his salvation. He 
wrote, and repeated with feeling, the hymn, 
the first verse of which is, 

" Come, let us join our cheerful songs, 
With angels round the throne ; 
Ten thousand thousand are their tongues, 
But all their joys are one." 

Not long before his death, a respectable 
neighbor called on a visit, and was surprised 
to see him so emaciated and pale. But among 
other things for his consolation, he said, as he 
was going away, " Wheelock, you need not be 
in fear to die, for you have been a very good 
boy." Mrs. Patten accompanied the gentle- 
man to the door, and on her return, found that 
her son had covered his face, and was weep- 
ing. She inquired if he were in pain ? As 
soon as he could compose himself, he drew 
the covering from his face, and with eyes glis- 
tening with surprise and tears, replied, " No, 
mother ; but only think, that Mr. S. should 
say, I need not be afraid to die, because I have 
been a good boy !" His mother observed, 

3* 



34 MEMOIRS OF 

" You know better than that, my son." He 
answered, " Yes, mother. I know that Christ 
died for sinners; and that I need not be in fear 
to die, because I love him." 

The hour of removal of this son from the 
world, was evidently drawing near ; but it 
finally came in a sudden and unexpected man- 
ner. One morning, without any previous indi- 
cations of the change, and while the family, 
with Dr. Wheelock and several other ministe- 
rial friends, were at breakfast in another room, 
the nurse came to Mrs. Patten, with the 
message, that her son wished to see her, im- 
mediately. She hastened, and saw an altera- 
tion in his countenance, and that he panted 
for breath. He said, "Mother, I am dying; 
do call my father to pray for me." All went 
into the room. After a few questions, prayer 
was offered, in which he appeared, abstracted- 
ly from his distress, calmly to join. When 
prayer was ended, he opened his eyes ; and 
inquiries were more particularly made, respect- 
ing his views, and the ground of his hope. 
Tn his replies to which, he said, that he was 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 35 

willing to leave his parents, and friends, and 
all things, to be with Christ. Another prayer 
was offered, in which he manifested the same 
composure, and interest. He then opened his 
eyes, and as he appeared about expiring, his 
father could only say, " Are you still willing, 
my son, to die !" To which he replied, "Yes, 
sir, quite willing." On assenting that another 
prayer should be offered, he again closed his 
eyes, and gently clasped his hands ; and in 
the midst of the duty, without opening his 
eyes, or any struggle, he expired, literally "fall- 
ing asleep in Jesus." He was then but ten 
years and ten days of age. 

Great as was the consolation of Mrs. Patten, 
in the decease of this child, it was a providen- 
tial favor that her father was present, to sympa- 
thize in her grief and encourage her faith in its 
struggle with natural affection, and temporary 
privation. The trial was new, and difficult. 
Though the event was foreseen, it was not felt 
as a reality, till it took place. The death of 
a child, in any instance, is one of the greatest 
afflictions ; in this child, there was every en- 



36 MEMOIRS OF 

clearing quality ; and hope opened the pros- 
pect of his being a solace to her, a blessing to 
the family, an ornament to the church, and a 
light in the world. Yet she was submissive. 
Becoming gratitude was connected with her 
sorrow. In a filial temper, her feelings ac- 
corded with those of her husband, who, on re- 
turning from the funeral, observed, that he was 
" glad he had so good a child to give." 

Beyond the force of language, this instance 
teaches the necessity and blessedness of trust- 
ing in Christ for salvation. As Christ is the 
only way of salvation, it is much more easy to 
lead a child to a knowledge of this way, than 
convince it of its own goodness. By flattery, 
a child may become self conceited, and its 
fears may be lulled ; but it cannot be con- 
scious of goodness, or be a subject of the 
peace of God. This the writer can testify 
from experience ; for when, at the age of six 
or eight years, he was told that he was good ; 
and when some parents adduced him as an ex- 
ample, which they wished their children to 
follow, he thought they did not know him. 



MRS, RUTH PATTEN. 37 

He was surprised at their candor, or rather 
their ignorance. He felt that he was not what 
they supposed him to be. He had no good- 
ness which gave him confidence before God, 
or rendered him willing to die. 

But this subject may be better illustrated 
by a case, in which a different course of in- 
struction was pursued, from the one adopted 
by Mrs. Patten. 

The writer knew a clergyman's family, in 
which there was a very amiable child, eight 
or ten years old, who was in a decline. One 
afternoon, without any thing having been said 
to her on the subject, she surprised her moth- 
er, by saying, "Though I have wished that we 
might all die together, and live in heaven ; yet 
now I dare not die ; for I fear God is angry 
with me." Her mother replied, " Why do 
you think so ? God cannot be angry with 
you, for you never did any thing wrong in 
your life." Not being able to convince her, 
she called her father, who repeated the assu- 
rance before given her, that she had done no- 
thing wrong ; that she had always been obe- 



38 MEMOIRS OF 

dient to her parents ; had been kind to her 
playmates, and gone to meeting on the Sab- 
bath, " Still," to use the words of her mother, 
" accustomed as she was to place implicit 
confidence in the opinions of her father, it 
was with the greatest difficulty she was dissua- 
ded from her apprehension of the anger of 
God," She was rather silenced, than convin- 
ced. She was cheered with no assurance, 
though she expressed no fear. What an open- 
ing was here for the parents to lead the mind 
of the child to Christ ! And how readily, and 
with what stability would it have found peace 
by believing in him. 

Mrs. Patten, while resident in Hartford, be- 
came the mother of three additional children ; 
Charlotte, Nathaniel Wheelock, and George 
Jaffrey. After the death of her son, she con- 
tinued regularly her customary duties, without 
any incident which requires to be recorded, 
till the dismission of her husband from his pas- 
toral charge, which took place in November, 
1773. 

But the reader will pause to reflect, that in 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 39 

so long an intermediate space, there must have 
been many delightful expressions of Christian 
character, in one so devoted to God, so affec- 
tionate to her family, so faithful in all her re- 
lations ; and in those circumstances of joy 
and sorrow, which must have occurred ; but 
these must be left, w r ith the works in general 
of the saints, to the disclosures of the final 
day. 

The council, convened on the dismission of 
Mr. Patten, were again in doubt, as to the 
expediency of the measure ; and by their com- 
mittee, referred it to his option, either to be 
dismissed, or left in good standing. He chose 
to submit it to their judgment. It appears 
by their result, that, considering Mr. Patten's 
age and eminent gifts and ministerial quali- 
fications, and the prospect, from the want of 
harmony in the Society, of his being more 
useful elsewhere, their opinion was in favor of 
his going away. They accordingly pronoun- 
ced the dissolution of his pastoral relation, 
and recommended him to the churches at 
large. 



40 MEMOIRS OF 

The afflictions of this scene were followed 
by various troubles, which form a memorable 
portion of those trials which Mrs. Patten ex- 
perienced, and in which she exhibited the sup- 
port and consolation of divine grace. 

A colored lad, given to her by her father 
at her marriage, and who had been obedient 
and useful, became sick, and died. 

Mrs. Patten had particularly labored, during 
a threatening decline, to bring him to a sense 
of his situation, and a knowledge of the way 
of salvation, without apparent success. 

One morning, not coming down as early as 
usual, she went to his chamber, and found him 
lying on his bed, speechless, with his eyes fix- 
ed, senseless, and just expiring. She called 
for some of the family. The writer was one 
of the first who entered. He saw his mother 
walking the room, wringing her hands in ago- 
ny, with entreaties to the Lord that he would 
be merciful to her servant ; and, if possible, 
give her some evidence that her instructions 
and prayers had not been in vain. 
Very soon, the servant breathed more easy ; 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 41 

his features became more natural ; his eyes 
had the marks of intelligence ; and he turned 
them mildly on his mistress. Sitting down by 
him, she said, " Obed, did you know that you 
were just entering eternity? He replied, that 
he did. She then proposed a series of ques- 
tions, respecting his sense of sin, his views of 
Christ, and of the invisible world, and indeed, 
made every inquiry which she would, had this 
been their last interview. 

She then left him with an aged attendant, 
and went down to prepare him some drink. 
In a few moments she returned ; and Obed 
was lying perfectly quiet, and apparently look- 
ing at the window. The attendant said, "He 
is better, and will soon be able to arise." But 
the revival he had experienced was granted, 
it seems, for the consolation of his mistress, 
and in answer to her prayer ; and not to pro- 
long his life ; for the stillness in which he lay 
was the sleep of death. He had expired with- 
out a struggle, or groan, or any thing to indi- 
cate his departure. 

But there was, at this time, an instance still 
4 



42 memoirs or 

more deeply affecting to the natural feelings 
of Mrs. Patten. Her lovely son, Nathaniel 
Wheelock, a year and nine months old, had, 
for several days, been sick. Its pains were 
occasionally violent, and produced convul- 
sions. In one of these paroxysms it expired, 
July 18, 1773, while the pastor of the church 
was offering a prayer at the funeral of the ser- 
vant, Mr. Patten being absent from home. 

Mrs. Patten spake of this bereavement, as 
rendering her more like " a fretful child," than 
almost any thing that she had ever experien- 
ced. The temptation to murmur was great ; 
a more lovely child, in appearance and tem- 
per, could scarcely be taken from any pa- 
rent. From the various troubles in her situ- 
ation, the loss of this child, great in itself, 
was felt with peculiar sensibility. 

But she did not indulge murmuring. Hea- 
vily as she was burthened, she knew that there 
was superior strength on high for her support. 
Her own weakness caused her to look with the 
more earnestness to God ; and her tears did 
jiot displease him, for she could say, " The 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 43 

Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; 
blessed be the name of the Lord." 

When Mr. Patten was released from his 
pastoral engagements, application was made 
to him by several destitute churches, in which 
he officiated, with much acceptance ; and in 
one of them there was a prospect of his re-set- 
tlement; but while engaged in the public servi- 
ces of the Sabbath, he experienced a sudden 
failure of voice ; which rendered it necessa- 
ry that he should close the meeting. Af- 
ter resting several months, and finding no re- 
lief to his voice, he despaired of resuming the 
ministry ; and from his feebleness and infirmi- 
ty, he was induced to conclude, that his 
course in life was nearly ended. His animal 
spirits were excessively depressed ; but what 
was singular in such a case, his mental and 
moral exercises were regular and vigorous. 
The apprehension that he should die, gave 
strength to the desire, of rest in the grave, and 
of a home in heaven. The depression of his 
feelings, and consequent gloom on his mind 
with respect to the world, were considered by 



44 MEMOIRS OF 

his physicians and friends a disease ; and a 
change of scene as indispensable to his re- 
storation to health. They therefore advised 
that he should attempt a visit to his parents 
and relatives, in Roxbury and Boston. With- 
out hope himself, but from regard to their feel- 
ings and opinions, he gave his consent. 

But the difficulties of the undertaking were 
great ; and, to a mind less affectionate, and 
believing, than Mrs. Patten's, might have been 
thought insuperable. The youngest child 
was but a year old, and not weaned ; her 
youngest daughter, five years of age, was af- 
flicted with a complication of disorders, and 
confined to the nursery ; she knew of no one 
with whom to leave the care of the children ; 
and the family was witbu >ut income. But the 
journey, both from the exigence of Mr. Pat- 
ten's case, and the approach of winter, could 
not be delayed. 

Making the best arrangements in her power 
for a short absence, intending, after arriving 
at Roxbury, to leave her husband with his pa- 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 45 

rents and relations, and then return, she was 
soon prepared for the journey. 

The writer seems to see his father walking 
on a board, with the assistance of his wife, 
from the threshold of the door to the chaise, 
with a seat prepared for himself at their feet, 
as it was thought he might be of use to them. 

By short stages, and intervening days of 
rest, it was more than three weeks before they 
arrived within thirty miles of Roxbury. The 
resolution of Mr. Patten then failed ; and it 
seemed to him cruelty to urge him to proceed. 

Leaving him to the care of the family who 
kept the public house, she hastened, with her 
son, to Roxbury. His friends, informed of his 
situation, procured a carriage, in which they 
placed a bed. With this accommodation he 
was brought, without much inconvenience, to 
those to whom he was endeared by the near- 
est relative ties. " Is this my son ?" said his 
mother, as they were conveying him into the 
house : u O, my son !" 

Mrs. Patten remained with him two weeks; 

and seeing no increase of unfavorable symp- 

4* 



46 MEMOIRS OF 

toms she readily complied with his desire, and 
the opinion of their friends, to return and see 
the state of the children. 

It was winter, and the ground was covered 
with an unusual depth of snow, which render- 
ed the journey, in a carriage with wheels, dif- 
ficult, and very fatiguing ; but it was accom- 
plished in three or four days. 

It was well she did return. The nurse, 
with whom she had entrusted the children, had 
not been faithful. They suffered from her 
want of judgment, from her want of feeling, 
which especially appeared in the decline of 
the sick, though not complaining daughter. 
The gladness of all the children, in seeing 
their mother, only the gratulations and ca- 
resses of children, in such circumstances, can 
tell. Nor can words express the joy of Mrs. 
Patten in being allowed again to spread over 
them the wing of her maternal care. In ad- 
dition to her attention by day, and watching 
by night, they were restored to those kind and 
winning instructions, which showed her inter- 
est in their everlasting peace ; and to those 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN* 4? 

prayers, which seemed to bring the blessing 
near to them. 

By the first mail, after Mrs. Patten's return, 
she was informed that her husband did not 
suffer by her absence ; and that she need not 
hasten back. An intimation was given, even 
that he might recruit, and return home in the 
Spring. From the supposed nature of his 
disorder, and his being in circumstances most 
favorable to recovery, she admitted the 
hope. 

But a letter by the following mail, brought 
the intelligence of his departure from the 
world. A day or tw r o before it took place, 
there were symptoms of the change, which 
were obvious to him as well as his friends. 
He lay in perfect quietness, but was too fee- 
ble to speak, except in a whisper. He said, 
he was sure he had loved his Master and his 
work. He expressed a confidence, that the 
God of the " widow and fatherless" would be 
with his family ; and a firm hope of his own 
salvation, through the mediation of Christ. 
He thus rested from his labors. 



48 MEMOIRS OF 

In person, Mr. Patten was rather above the 
middle stature, and well proportioned. His 
countenance was manly and pleasing, his eye 
intelligent and observant. His voice was syl- 
labically distinct ; its tones full, and adapted 
to his subject. The attention of the lar- 
gest audiences was arrested and fixed while 
he was speaking. There was an ease and 
grace in his gestures, and all his movements, 
which exhibited nature in its most improved 
state. His sermons were accurate, as to me- 
thod and style, and awakening and instruc- 
tive j and were delivered either extempore, or 
without any apparent attention to his notes. 
In prayer he was scriptural, copious, perti- 
nent ; always blending deep solemnity with 
filial confidence. 

He deceased January 16th, 1775, in the 
37th year of his age ; and was respectfully 
interred in a tomb appropriated to ministers, 
in Roxbury. 

" Spare us, O Lord, aloud we pray ; 
Nor let our sun go down at noon ; 



MRS, RUTH PATTEN. 49 

Thy years are one eternal day, 
And must thy children die so soon?" 

Watts. 



hi. 



FROM THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND TO HER 
OWN DECEASE. 

The bereavement, from its nature, and the 
sudden manner in which it took place and 
communicated to her when alone with her 
children, was almost overwhelming to Mrs. 
Patten. She felt peculiarly desolate ; the 
agony of her feelings was great ; but in con- 
sideration of her children, who clustered 
around her, she felt it her duty to restrain 
her outcries ; and conscious that the afflic- 
tion, with all its circumstances and connexions 
was known to her heavenly Father, and was 
of his appointment, she became submissive, 
and found light and peace. 

The situation of Mrs. Patten was at this 
time peculiarly hopeless and wretched. She 
had a family of six children, the eldest four- 



50 MEMOIRS OF 

teen years, the youngest sixteen months ; her 
daughter of five years, still sick, and requi- 
ring constant attention. She was without 
means of support, and not in a capacity to ob- 
tain supplies by any employment, had one of- 
fered ; and it was in the midst of winter. 
Yet in methods not foreseen, and on which 
she could not calculate, provision was made 
for her, so that her family did not suffer. 

Her father, Dr. Wheelock, wrote a letter 
full of sympathetic feeling, offering to do for her 
and her children all in his power, if she would 
remove in the spring to Hanover, an hundred 
and eighty miles to the northward. But as 
the settlement was new, and he was struggling 
with many difficulties to continue the school 
and college, it was not in heart to add to his 
cares, and increase his expenses. She there- 
fore declined the offer. 

He then requested that he might take her 
elder son into his family, and give him a col- 
legiate education. An offer was likewise 
made by the father of Mr. Patten, and a bro- 
ther in Roxbury, who was in a large grocery 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 51 

concern, to take this son and bring him up to 
that business. Mrs. Patten, sensible of the 
importance that her son should be educated 
to some useful employment, left it to him to 
decide which of the two offers should be ac- 
cepted. 

It was naturally more agreeable to him to 
be with his grandfather and uncle in Roxbury, 
with whom he had become acquainted during 
the sickness of his father, and where his father 
had died. The vicinity of Boston, and the 
business of store keeping, were likewise more 
agreeable to him, than to be confined to stu- 
dy, in a wilderness situation. But as he 
thought there was a greater prospect of be- 
coming a Christian by going to his grandfath- 
er Wheelock, not only from his eminent piety 
and zeal, but from the religious state of socie- 
ty at college, and there being then a revival 
among the students, he preferred his offer. In 
this reason of preference Mrs. Patten fully ac- 
quiesced, and sent her son the following sum- 
mer. 

Within a year, she received from him a let- 



52 MEMOIRS OF 

ter informing her that by the grace of God, 
he had been convinced of his lost state, and 
had found support and joy through faith in 
Christ. 

Her feelings, expressed on this occasion, 
were a proof that her first and highest object 
with respect to him was attained, in his being 
delivered from the dominion of sin, and saved 
from everlasting death. This, she often said, 
was her desire, her only desire with respect to 
all her children. From love to God, as well 
as from regard to their welfare, it was her 
earnest, all absorbing wish, they should serve 
him, persuaded that this comprehended all 
good — was the " whole of man." 

She did not fail to improve this instance of 
divine mercy, in connexion with the example 
of her former son, to excite the attention, and 
impress the minds of her other children in fa- 
vor of religion. The example of elder children 
when good, is doubtless among the most im- 
portant means of grace. Not only the natu- 
ral affection of children for each other, but 
their equality in standing, and similarity of 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 53 

feeling, and intimate intercourse, give the 
elder an influence over the younger, which 
even the parent does not possess. They are 
powerfully instrumental in regulating or per- 
verting the younger. When not restrained, 
they weaken the authority of the parent over 
them, and render it in a great measure in- 
effectual. 

Several of her other children Mrs. Patten 
might have located among relatives who kind- 
ly offered to receive them ; but while it was 
very inconvenient for her to be left alone, 
with a sick child and infant, it was inexpress- 
ibly distressing to have her children dispersed. 
They were her greatest earthly solace. But it 
was a superior motive, that she could pay more 
attention to their religious instruction and 
conduct than she could expect from others. 
From maternal affection and Christian solici- 
tude, she therefore resolved to continue them 
under her own care. 

But this resolution required a strong faith 
in the promises of God, as she was without 
the visible means or prospect of support. Yet 

5 



54 MEMOIRS OF 

as her resolution was founded in good inten- 
tions, she did not consider that reliance pre- 
sumptuous. She did not fear to " live by- 
faith ;" and the care of God over her was ap- 
parent in providing for her according to her 
exigencies, and in season. 

She did not express to any one her desti- 
tute and helpless situation, and ask for assist- 
ance. She thought that, like her Christian 
example, it was sufficiently obvious to those 
who were disposed to attend and minister to 
her relief; and that to state it in words, might 
appear like complaining, or bring a reproach 
on her for keeping her family together. She 
therefore allowed her. situation to speak for 
itself; and was willing to adopt every in- 
stance of self denial possible, to attain her ob- 
ject. 

But her wants she told to God, repairing to 
him on all occasions as the only object of 
hope ; and his interpositions on her behalf 
were a constant source of gratitude, and often 
filled her with surprise. 

Were the door of her dwelling to be open- 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 55 

ed, though no miracle would be seen, the care 
of God would be scarcely less visible. No 
article necessary to the support and enjoy- 
ment of life was exhausted, but a supply was 
furnished. An instance in the case of her 
sick daughter, is a specimen. When Mrs. 
Patten was wiping a tear from her eye, be- 
cause her child expressed a desire for some- 
thing which could not be procured, a servant 
came to the door with a billet from an unknown 
friend, enclosing money sufficient for purcha- 
sing that article, and whatever was necessary 
for the family. She had daily evidence of 
that gracious declaration of Christ, " Your 
Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need 
of these things ;" and with the disciples, when 
Christ inquired of them after their return from 
their mission, ** Have ye lacked any thing ?" 
she could reply, " Nothing." The temper of 
a disciple she manifested, in being without 
anxiety. No, never was she anxious. She 
was equally contented, and she exhibited 
equal cheerfulness of countenance when most 
destitute, as though the world were at her dis- 



56 MEMOIRS OF 

posal. " Her treasury," she said, " was on 
high," This was sure and inexhaustible. 

That all are dependent on God, both for life 
and the means by which it is sustained, it 
were atheism to deny. 

Trust in God does not imply the neglect or 
contempt of means, but it requires that he be 
not limited to those in our possession or view ; 
and that he be not directed in the course he 
may take. It is not, therefore, presumptuous 
to rely on him when one is destitute of proper- 
ty, is incapable of laboring, and even is with- 
out sympathizing relatives and friends. In no 
case is " the Lord's arm shortened that he 
cannot save." " The hearts of all are in his 
hand ;" " the earth is his, and the fulness 
thereof," and there are repeated providen- 
tial occurrences by which those who trust in 
means are taught to fear ; but those who trust 
in the Lord not to be discouraged. 

The chief object of solicitude to Mrs. Pat- 
ten at this time was her sick daughter, who 
continued perceptibly, though gradually to de- 
cline. It was a ground of peculiar affliction, 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 57 

that from nervous weakness, the child could 
not bear the thought of death ; and that any 
discourse of religion connected with that 
change produced an agitation which rendered 
it necessary to divert her attention to some 
other subject. 

In this perplexity Mrs. Patten adapted a 
method of indirect instruction. She called 
her other children around her and catechised 
them ; and in the answers and explanations 
given, communicated to her sick daughter all 
the truths she wished her to know. After 
pursuing this course for a short time, the 
child seemed to feel neglected that she was 
not questioned in her order ; and said, " Ma', 
you may ask me questions now, for I can bear 
them." After this she attended with calmness 
and apparent satisfaction to all that was said 
to her. Her death was finally occasioned by 
the whooping cough, which operated on her 
with great severity. In a fit of coughing, 
while her agitated mother was carrying her to 
the air, she said, " Ma', don't be frightened, 
I shallsoon get over it;" but without speak- 

5* 



58 MEMOIRS OF 

ing again she expired. This was Charlotte, 
a beautiful, discreet, patient, docile, and as 
we trust a christian child. She deceased 
April 21st, 1775, in the seventh year of her 
age. 

On this occasion Mrs. Patten scarcely felt 
the evil of separation. She seemed to real- 
ise the voice of Christ, " She is not dead, but 
sleepeth." She viewed her child as " taken 
away from the evil to come ;" as resting from 
her labors, and an heir of a blessed immor- 
tality. She therefore quietly resigned her to 
her bed in the dust, and to the arms of the 
Redeemer. 

No longer confined by the cares of sick- 
ness, Mrs. Patten was able to pay a more 
general attention to the concerns of her fami- 
ly. Her right to the house in which she lived 
was doubtful, and it was necessary to have a 
legal decision in the case. It was a provi- 
dential favor to her, that the cause, without 
any designed delay on her part, was continued 
in court seven years. This furnished a shel- 
ter for herself and children ; in connexion 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 59 

with which they had some facilities for gain- 
ing a subsistence ; but these were precarious, 
and at best, inadequate ; so that the attention 
of Mrs, Patten was kept awake to her depen- 
dence on God, and through confidence in 
him, his " peace possessed her heart and her 
mind." 

In the winter of 1779, she was called to visit 
her father, supposed to be in his last sickness. 
She readily assented ; leaving her little family 
under the divine protection, she proceeded in 
a sleigh with one of her brothers who had 
come for her, and accomplished the journey 
without difficulty. 

Their mutual jo} 7 " at meeting was great ; 
even the melancholy considerations attending 
it were rich in consolation. 

Her father was gratified with the assiduous, 
judicious and affectionate attention she de- 
voted to him, scarcely leaving him day or 
night for three months ; at which time he ex- 
pired. It was a satisfaction to her that she 
had an opportunity to minister to him in his 
infirmities, to relieve his cares and distresses, 



60 MEMOIRS OF 

to hear his christian remarks, and witness his 
example through his sickness and in his dying 
hour. He had ever expressed for her a ten- 
der love, and bestowed on her all the obliga- 
tions a child could receive from a parent. She 
had never offended him, had always cheerfully 
obeyed his command ; and she followed him 
in faithfulness till he closed his eyes in death. 
This took place April 24, 1779. 

On her return to her family she found rea- 
son for gratitude, for the Lord had been with 
them to protect and bless them ; so that they 
had not been in want, and no evil had dis- 
turbed their peace. Though young they had 
remembered and observed the counsels of 
their mother, so that she found reason only to 
commend them for their regularity and har- 
mony. 

After this, nothing unusual occurred in 
her family or connexions till April, 1780, 
when there was much to excite her maternal 
and christian feelings in the danger and res- 
cue of her son at college. As it may proper- 
ly have a place in these memoirs, and may be 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 61 

useful to the reader, a brief account will be 
given of the scene. 

This son was in his last year in college, and 
had accompanied his uncle, the new presi- 
dent, forty miles above the college ; and after 
fording Wild Ammonoosuc river, lodged at 
an aunt's about a mile beyond. In the morn- 
ing, which was Sabbath, it was necessary to 
re-cross the river to attend public worship. 
With this object in view, in company with his 
uncle and aunt, and several of the family, he 
set out. But when they arrived at the river 
they found that it was much swollen by the 
copious rain which had fallen the preceding 
night and the dissolved snow. Several of the 
party crossed in a small boat ; but as it was 
still possible, though difficult, to ford the river, 
it was expedient for some to attempt it, and 
lead the horses that were dismounted. Of 
this number he offered to be one ; but in the 
stream his horse, on being checked, crouched 
and was overthrown. The rider, precipitated 
into the water, immediately regained his 
standing ; but found it impossible to resist for 



62 MEMOIRS OF 

a moment the force of the current. He was 
again overwhelmed. By repeated struggles 
to obtain a footing, he caught a few gasps of 
air ; but the intermediate times of being un- 
der water were longer than he could suspend 
his breath, and caused very great distress. 

He was soon carried into deep water, and 
then, from the necessity of it, thought of swim- 
ming, to which exercise he had been accus- 
tomed. Without fatigue, or even sensible ef- 
fort, he rested on the surface of the water. 
But he had not proceeded far before his 
strength entirely failed him, so that he could 
not move a hand or foot to save the universe. 
As he lay on the bottom of the river, his pain 
abated ; but the bed was hard, from the neces- 
sity and nature of the sleep into which he was 
falling and the inextinguishable desire of being 
awake to life. He reflected that he must now 
breathe, or breathe no more ; but finding the 
attempt useless and distressing, he continued 
voluntarily to suspend his breath, and soon all 
sense and consciousness ceased. 

On the first return of thought, he imagined 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 63 

that he was on the bed where he had slept the 
night before, and that it was now a dark and 
stormy night. The scene through which he 
had passed occurred to him, and he supposed 
it to be a dream, and that it had drenched him 
in a cold perspiration. He resolved to start 
and thoroughly awake, that he might be 
certain it was a dream. As he made the at- 
tempt, he felt that he w r as weak, and conclu- 
ded he would not fatigue himself more, as 
he should naturally awake in a moment 
or two. On this, he perceived a glimmering 
of light, and heard the clapping of hands, 
seemingly at a distance, but rapidly approach- 
ing ; when at the time it should have reached 
him, he found he was lying on the shore, sur- 
rounded by weeping friends, who were stri- 
king his hands, and attempting by friction to 
restore him to animation. He was^ told that 
he had been in that situation fifteen or twenty 
minutes. 

Though he saw, and heard, and felt, his sen- 
sations were those of much distress. There 
was but a spark of life in a body of death, ser- 



64 MEMOIRS OF 

ving scarcely more than to evidence its des- 
olation. Still there was a joy — a great joy, 
in being again alive, and this blessing was 
confirmed by a restoration, ere long, to health 
and strength. 

It might well be deemed a deficiency, were 
the writer not to relate his exercises and im- 
pressions during the scene through which he 
was carried. 

He felt the solemnity of dying to be great- 
er than he had before apprehended, and he 
believes that no one can have an adequate 
idea of it, but from experience. In preceding 
sicknesses and apprehensions of dying, there is 

some uncertainty as to the issue. Apprehen- 
sion is therefore blended with a degree of 
hope, and the use of means for recovery. 
But when one is convinced by external cir- 
cumstances, and his experience, that he is in- 
deed dying, he then has a full, and it may be 
said, new impression of the great change. 

It was thus with this son. He had, in the 
course of his life, been visited with seasons of 
dangerous sickness ; he had repeatedly been 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 65 

seized with strange feelings, which he did not 
know but might be those of death ; but he did 
not know how much influence hope retained, 
amidst his fears ; nor how great a difference 
there was, between the suspicion, and the real- 
ity of dying. But when he found, that he was 
in a rapid stream, his efforts to escape or re- 
sist which were wholly ineffectual ; that he 
was far from help, and actually lying on a 
bed beneath the wave, there was no room to 
doubt that the hand of death was upon him ; 
and this knowledge was attended with more 
solemnity than any apprehensions he ever be- 
fore had of the subject. 

But the chief solemnity of death consists in 
its relation to eternity. Awakened to this 
subject, all the scenes and interests of time 
appear as shadowy forms, and a darkening 
twilight. God will be in all its thoughts, in 
all its feelings, in all its hopes, or fears. 

This was the experience of the son in 
the scene before related, and in realizing 
the presence of God, and that he was then 

6 



66 MEMOIRS OF 

going to his tribunal, its terrors awed and dis- 
tracted him. 

His mind, for some time previous, had been 
in a state of darkness and conflict, and the 
danger into which he was then plunged, im- 
pressed him as a judgment. The consterna- 
tion of the scene, and especially of this im- 
pression, precluded other thoughts ; but im- 
mediately on his rescue, and finding that he 
was a subject of mercy, the name of Christ 
occurred to him, and produced an exultation 
far superior to the joys of restored life ; and 
he thought, if one had reminded him of it in his 
distress, it would have caused him almost to 
leap from the water ; at least, it would have 
given wings to his faith, and rendered him tri- 
umphant. 

It was then his determination, that if ever 
he should attend the dying, he would speak to 
them repeatedly of Christ ; that the sound of 
his name should be mingled with their suffer- 
ings of body and mind, and should be the last 
they heard in this state of sin and mortality. 






MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 67 

" He is a rock," all else is wave and dark- 
ness. 

When Mrs. Patten became acquainted with 
this scene, her emotions and exercises of 
mind may more easily be conceived than ex- 
pressed ; her gratitude to God, her earnest 
desire that this son might renewedly, and with 
zeal, be devoted to his service ; and that all 
her children might be excited to attend to 
those " things which belong to their ever- 
lasting peace," since the " grave is without 
any order ;" and they " knew not what a day 
may bring forth ;" and without which, when 
the affectionate ties in which they are united 
shall be dissolved, they will fail of being as- 
sociated in a state of perpetual and perfect 
friendship and blessedness. 

Mrs. Patten continued several years after 
this time in a state comparatively obscure, at- 
tending to her family, instructing her chil- 
dren, and promoting their usefulness. She 
had the satisfaction of witnessing a public 
profession of religion by her three daughters, 
each of whom gave evidence of her being a 



68 MEMOIRS OF 

friend to Christ, and of professing his name 
with a desire to serve him. Blessed family ! 
united in christian affection, in christian obe- 
dience, and in the hope of salvation. 

In May, 1786, the elder son was ordained 
pastor of a church in Newport, R. I. As 
there was a parsonage house belonging to the 
society, he invited and urged his mother and 
the family to reside with him. This she 
thought it prudent to decline ; but consented 
that two of her daughters should go, and her 
little son, as it was the wish of his brother to 
assist in giving him a collegiate education, that 
in this respect he might be on an equality 
with himself. 

After a year she saw fit to take the place of 
one of her daughters, and remained in New- 
port two years and a half. Her courtesy and 
good example gained her general respect and 
esteem. No one, at all acquainted with her, 
doubted that she was a Christian. She was 
considered as exhibiting religion, though de- 
cidedly, yet in one of its mildest and most in- 
teresting forms. She joined the Osborne fe- 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 69 

male praying meeting ; and in her intercourse 
with Christians and others, maintained the 
character of being humble, devout, charitable, 
and in all respects exemplary. 

When her younger son became prepared 
for his second year in college, it was necessary, 
either that the object of his education should 
be abandoned, or that the family should be 
broken up. The latter, with mutual feelings 
of regret at the separation, was adopted. 

Previously to their leaving Hartford^ a 
school had been commenced, which was con- 
tinued by the eldest daughter ; and on their 
return the three daughters unitedly engaged 
in the employment. 

Though expedient, and in a sense neces- 
sary, it was not undertaken, nor was it con- 
ducted, on mercenary principles, but in a dis- 
position to be employed in doing good. 

The school thus commenced, gradually in- 
creased and became prosperous. Instructions 
were given not only in the primary and es- 
sential, but in the refined and ornamental 
branches. Of these branches which were not 

6* 



70 memoirs or 

taught in any school the sisters had attended, 
they acquired the knowledge by their own stu- 
dy. This was especially the case in needle 
work, both lace and embroidery ; specimens 
of which they could develope, however com- 
plicated, ingenious and beautiful, and repro- 
duce. The pupils had likewise opportunity of 
taking lessons on various subjects from mas- 
ters in town. 

But it was found important, to perfect their 
institution, that some man should be connect- 
ed with it, from whom permanent instructions 
might be derived in criticism, mathematics, 
geography, and branches proper to such a de- 
partment. 

At this time, the younger son of Mrs. Pat- 
ten had graduated ; and though he was strong- 
ly inclined to mercantile pursuits, and had the 
encouragement of a clerk's office in one of 
the ships of an East India merchant ; yet some 
trouble arising to American commerce at Can- 
ton, the voyage was indefinitely postponed. 

On returning to his mother and sisters, he 
consented to give that assistance in the school 
which they desired. But that he might be 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 71 

more fully employed, he concluded to attend 
in a separate apartment to the instruction of 
boys, in the literary branches necessary to 
qualify them for the various occupations in 
life ; and in the classics and other books pre- 
paratory to their admission to college. 

He was a thorough and critical, and at 
length became an universal scholar. The 
constitution and management of his school 
were very judicious, appearing in the order 
that was maintained, and the rapid proficiency 
of the pupils. His government was not by 
passion, or the dictate of incident, but wholly 
by law ; so that his school was of the nature 
of a republic, in which the Principal was an 
impartial and firm, but lenient administrator ; 
and the pupils felt an interest in the support 
of the laws. The laws were few, but com- 
prehensive, adapted to preserve order and 
quiet, and promote study. They included 
manners and morals, requiring a courteous 
demeanor, forbidding profanity and falsehood, 
and unkind expressions and rude conduct. 
Religion was likewise promoted, by the stated 



72 MEMOIRS OF 

reading of the Scriptures, and the catecheti- 
cal instructions and example of the teacher. 

The two schools obtained great celebrity ; 
and while patronized in town, applications 
were made from different and remote places 
for children to be admitted, and for board in 
the family. In addition to those from the 
New England states, some were received from 
South Carolina and several of the West India 
Islands; so that the schools at times consisted 
of between two and three hundred, many of 
them from families of the first respectability ; 
and there were from thirty to forty in the 
family as boarders. 

Mrs. Patten never taught in the school, but 
she presided in the family, and was very use- 
ful. She regularly prayed with her own 
daughters, and the female class of boarders. 
She attended to the wants and conduct of all 
the children ; gave them advice, instructed 
them in propriety of behaviour, and in moral 
and religious duty. She wished both their 
natural and moral improvement — that they 
might excel in whatever " is lovely, virtuous, 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 73 

and of good report." But it was her desire 
that all other things might subserve their 
knowledge of God and the Redeemer, and 
promote their walking in "the way that is 
everlasting," and shining as the " brightness 
of the firmament, and the stars forever." 

Her authority was so tempered by meek- 
ness, and such were her candor, the justice of 
her judgment, and evident regard for their good, 
that she engaged in a high degree their con- 
fidence and love. They universally addressed 
her by the appellation of Grand Ma' ; and 
they appeared to have for her the respect and 
affection of children. 

Her instructions and example were salutary, 
as they exhibited in a consistent light the 
christian character. They all saw that to be 
such a christian was to be good ; and the con- 
viction was blessed, not only as a restraint, 
and a motive to an amiable demeanor, and a 
reverence for the Scriptures and christian in- 
stitutions ; but in some instances to the expe- 
rience of sanctifying grace, in the choice to 
be the Lord's. 



74 MEMOIRS OF 

Through their influence, and the instruc- 
tions and discipline in both the schools, the 
pupils were remarkable for the regularity of 
their conduct, and proficiency in their studies. 
It is not known that any one was turned away 
for neglect or misconduct ; whereas boys in 
other schools and in other towns, who were 
refractory, and above the control of their pre- 
ceptors, have, on being sent to this, spontane- 
ously conformed to the general order, and 
have excelled in their attainments. It was 
said of the females, that there was a remark- 
able uniformity in them as it respected their 
being entirely free from affectation, and ex- 
hibiting a delicacy and propriety in their man- 
ners, with an improved mind and amiable dis- 
position. 

As the sphere of Mrs. Patten's usefulness 
enlarged, especially as the pecuniary re- 
sources of the family increased, her benevo- 
lence and liberality became more conspicu- 
ous. 

She had ever been hospitable. This office 
of kindness was not confined to her relatives 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 75 

and friends, either in town, or who visited 
heron their journies; but extended to all who 
were strangers and in want, and to whom she 
could give relief. 

In this respect she exemplified the spirit of 
the command of Christ, " When thou makest a 
feast, call not thy friends, thy kinsmen, or rich 
neighbors — but the poor, the blind, the maim- 
ed, for they cannot reward thee." 

In entertaining her natural relatives, her 
christian friends and ministers of the gospel, 
she showed that she considered the obligation 
conferred on her, rather than on them. Yet 
she provided a way to accommodate others. 
Poverty, infirmity, and even delirium, have 
found food and a nurse's care, and have felt 
peace and quietness under her roof; so that 
there was reason in the plea which a friend- 
less stranger once offered for a lodging, that 
" she had been told, Mrs. Patten never turned 
any away." Hospitality was the law of her 
house. 

She was solicitous to relieve in their own 
dwellings, those who could not make personal 



76 MEMOIRS OF 

application, sending them supplies, visiting 
them, and by her kind and instructive sugges- 
tions, ministering to their spiritual benefit and 
consolation. 

She was very obliging in her intercourse 
with her neighbors ; " ready to lend, not ho- 
ping for any thing again," or on the principle 
of doing them a kindness, and not of receiv- 
ing a recompense. 

In the benevolent and charitable institutions 
and enterprises of the day, she took a lively 
interest, and w r as pleased as they multiplied, 
cheerfully giving them her aid. 

Instead of pleading what she had done, as an 
excuse for not doing more, she considered 
new opportunities of promoting what was 
good, as new fields in which she might sow, 
with the prospect of reaping a large harvest. 
The harvest to which she looked forward was, 
the fruits of benevolent exertion. This is 
indeed all the good that God has done, and 
all that he will bestow. 

She was a principal instrument in founding 
the Beneficent Society, in the place of her re- 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 77 

sidence, for the support and education of indi- 
gent orphan, or neglected female children. 
The following testimonial on the subject is 
found among her papers. 

Hartford, June 1st, 1816. 
" The Female Beneficent Society present 
their grateful acknowledgments to Mrs. Ruth 
Patten, for her liberal aid and patronage of the 
Society, for her excellent counsel to the Man- 
agers, and for her exertions as their Presi- 
dent. 

They hope long to retain her as one of the 
first and firmest friends of the institution, and 
pray God to make her and her family parta- 
kers of all the unsearchable riches of Christ ; 
and beg her to accept the assurance of their 
highest esteem and utmost regard. 
By order of the Board, 

Mary Grew, Preset. 
J. Watson, Setfy." 

She was one of the first contributors to 
Williamstown College, to the Foreign Mis- 

7 



78 MEMOIRS OF 

sionary Society, to the Connecticut Bible So- 
ciety, of which she and her three daughters be- 
came life members. It is difficult to enume- 
rate the various benevolent institutions to 
which she belonged ; and would be impossi- 
ble, as it is unnecessary to ascertain the 
amount of her donations to them, and to par- 
ticular charitable objects. As she lived in 
communion with God, and in the exercise of 
a disposition to do good, she did not keep a 
register of the number of her prayers, or of 
time spent in them, nor of the instances and 
amount of her charities ; they were the course 
of her life, and could not be written. 

She was deeply interested in the churches 
and their pastors, and deplored the errors and 
divisions that appeared among them, and pray- 
ed for their union, their purity and peace. 
Her charity did not lead her to overlook all 
differences in opinion as not important ; it 
did not consist in indulgence to error, but to 
those by whom it was adopted, with a desire 
that while Christians walked together, so far 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 79 

as they were agreed, they might all be united 
in the truth. 

It was her heart's desire that pure and un- 
defiled religion might be revived and flour- 
ish; and any accounts or indications of the awa- 
kening and conversion of sinners, filled her 
with joy, and gave increased animation to her 
prayers and praises. 

The missionary cause lay with habitual 
weight on her mind, and at times absorbed her 
feelings as relating to a world of sinners. 
Earnestly did she desire that the gospel might 
be sent to the heathen, and preached to 
the Jews, and exhibited in all those re- 
gions where, through ignorance, or delusion, 
or impenitence, the people sat in the " shadow 
of death." Fervent were her prayers for the 
missionaries, and she made every exertion in 
her power to aid their support and promote 
their usefulness. 

In her works she was not ostentatious. She 
never appeared to think them important, or 
entitled to praise. The works themselves of 
Christians are the light in which they are to 
shine. To attempt, by boasting, to bring them 



80 MEMOIRS OF 

into public notice, would be like the influence 
of the sun on the manna, causing it to melt 
away. In accordance with the precept of 
Christ, " when she had done all, she consider- 
ed that she had but performed her duty ; that 
she was an unprofitable servant." 

Without diminishing from the benevolence of 
her disposition, it may be observed, that Mrs. 
Patten was gratified with the cheerful concur- 
rence of her daughters in her views and wishes, 
by which she was enabled to carry them more 
fully into effect. 

In two instances, without a long interval of 
time, Mrs. Patten was brought near death. In 
the first, her strength suddenly failed, and she 
fell into a lethargic, insensible state, which 
continued two days, with but little hope of her 
recovery. When restored to reason, it ap- 
peared that the dispensation, though sudden, 
did not find her unprepared. Though still in 
apparent danger, she expressed no fear, but 
was quiet and resigned. The grace of which 
she was habitually the subject, was brought in- 
to exercise in correspondence to the trial. 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 81 

She was deeply impressed with the solemnity 
of entering eternity ; and grateful and sur- 
prised that she was restored again to life and 
usefulness. 

The other instance was, her falling back- 
ward down a flight of stairs. This fall was 
very severe. It rendered her for a time insen- 
sible, it injured her neck and back, and dis- 
abled her from leaving the house for three 
months. It was the more remarkable, as she 
had recently heard of the decease of a brother 
and sister, and was preparing for church, with 
a written request, that prayer might be offered 
for divine support and consolation under the 
bereavements. That two of the family should 
die so near together, and she almost had 
joined them, deeply impressed her with a 
sense of the frailty of life, and its dearest 
connexions, and of the divine hand in shield- 
ing her in so great danger, and not increasing 
her paternal family's desolation and sorrow. 
These impressions were connected with live- 
ly gratitude to God, and renewed devotedness 

of herself to him with humility and zeal. 

7* 



82 MEMOIRS OF 

She often expressed these obligations in 
her confinement ; and when able to attend 
public worship, she desired that thanks might 
be returned ; and went in the spirit of the 
hymn, which she repeated. 



" Among thy saints that fill thy house, 
My offerings shall be paid ; 
There shall my zeal perform the vows 
My soul in anguish made. 

" How happy all thy servants are ! 
How great thy grace to me ; 
My life, which thou hast made thy care, 
Lord, I devote to thee. 

" Now I am thine, forever thine ; 
Nor shall my purpose move ; 
Thy hands have loos'd my bands of pain, 
And bound me with thy love. 

" Here, in thy courts, I leave my vows, 
And thy rich grace record ; 
Witness, ye saints, who hear me now, 
If I forsake the Lord." 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 83 

Mrs. Patten was distinguished by there hav- 
ing been no death in her family, consisting of 
herself and five children, for fifty three years. 
She was then called to part with her younger 
son. 

From his being an infant when his father 
died, and left, for a time, to a careless 
nurse, the impressions she then had, remained, 
and produced towards him a peculiar tender- 
ness of feeling. As he grew up, he exhibited 
qualities adapted to gratify her wishes, and 
excite high expectations. 

Placed providentially in her family after his 
collegiate education was completed, he had 
continued through the following years, without 
leaving her for scarcely a day. He recipro- 
cated her affection, being one of the kindest, 
most attentive and dutiful of sons. 

She indulged the hope that he was pious ; 
and this opinion was entertained by his pas- 
tor and other christian friends. He venerated 
the Scriptures, appeared to understand and 
approve evangelical doctrines, strictly ob- 
served the Sabbath, regularly attended public 



84 MEMOIRS OF 

worship, and discountenanced all expressions 
of irreligion and vice ; and was exemplary in 
the family, in his school, and in his intercourse 
in general with society. 

He did not make a profession of religion, 
from a sense of great unworthiness, and the 
fear of adding to the number who dishonor 
the gospel by a conduct contradictory to their 
profession. But this was wrong ; for if he 
saw and lamented their inconsistency, it ought 
to have been a motive with him to profess re- 
ligion, that by divine grace he might give a 
better example ; for which his stricter convic- 
tions of moral duty so much the more quali- 
fied him. 

In his sickness he was meek and patient. 
For several weeks there was hope of his re- 
covery ; but his relapses were frequent and 
threatening. His mother and sisters were un- 
wearied in their attentions ; and not to in- 
crease their trouble, he suppressed all com- 
plaint. They conversed with him familiarly 
on the subject of religion, in its relation to 
the experiences of the present and future 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 85 

states. His mother repeatedly prayed with 
him ; but he one day said to her, with a smile, 
" Mother, you never pray that I may be re- 
stored to health, but only that the visitation of 
sickness may be sanctified to me." In this he 
acquiesced, for he fully concurred with her, in 
desiring the divine blessing on his soul, rather 
than in the external circumstances of his state. 

He never manifested a wish in contrariety to 
the allotment of Providence in the situation in 
which he was placed. The only privation he 
appeared to feel was, that of attending public 
worship. One sabbath morning, as the bell 
announced the time of assembling, he sang, 
evidently affected at the recollection, 

" How pleased and bless'd was I 
To hear the people cry, 
Come, let us seek our God to day." 

He expressed gratitude for the accommoda- 
tions of his situation; said, " he had a pleasant 
home." He was sensible of great obligations 
to his 'numerous acquaintances and friends, in 
whose sympathy and kind attentions he found 



86 MEMOIRS OF 

much solace. But chiefly was he thankful to 
ministers and Christians in town and from 
abroad, for their visits and prayers, their in- 
structions and encouragements, in which he 
expressed great interest, not only in words, 
but by tears. 

After a sickness of five months, and being 
reduced to great weakness, his departure was 
very peaceful. Having had a troublesome 
night and morning, but experiencing some re- 
lief, he was assisted to recline back in his 
chair. He thought he might sleep, and tran- 
quilly closed his eyes. The influence of death 
had no distress which caused him to open 
them again ; he soon expired. This was 
Feb. 15, 1830, in the 57th year of his age. 

From the great age and infirmities of Mrs. 
Patten, and the nature of the bereavement, it 
was apprehended that she would not survive 
it ; that with all her knowledge and experi- 
ence of religion, her physical strength would 
not sustain the shock. But this was not the 
consequence. God had denied her nothing 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 87 

she had requested ; she believed that her pray- 
ers were answered, and she was quieted. 

On the occasion of the funeral, at which 
there was a large collection of people, and 
many who had been the pupils of the deceas- 
ed, to walk in procession as mourners, a num- 
ber of the friends of Mrs. Patten watched her 
with concern as she sat in the room with the 
corpse ; but she sat without apparent agita- 
tion ; and when called to take the last look, 
she went, and gently stroking the face of her 
child, said, " My son, I shall soon be with 
you ;" and returned with a maternal smile, as 
though she had left him asleep in his cradle. 

" My son, I shall soon be with you ;" how 
comprehensive and impressive the words ! I 
shall soon be with thee in the grave, w r here the 
weary are at rest : and I hope soon to be with 
thee in heaven, partaking of the fulness of 

joy. 

Within the two following years there were 
two successive trials, not a little afflictive. 
Mrs. Patten's oldest daughter, on whom the 
care of the family principally devolved ; and 



88 MEMOIRS OF 

then the second, who was peculiarly de- 
voted to her mother, incurred injuries by fall- 
ing, which confined them, and rendered them 
in a measure helpless. As it is said, " All 
things work together for good to them that 
love God," Mrs. Patten had this evidence 
that she loved God, as she derived and com- 
municated benefit from these dispensations. 
It was a satisfaction to her, that these be- 
loved daughters were constantly in her pre- 
sence ; that she could converse with them on 
the works and ways of God ; that she could 
witness their patience and resignation, (one 
of the instances being attended with great 
pain, and apprehension of a fatal issue) and 
that they could encourage each other in the 
hope of meeting in a state, where there shall 
be no sin, nor sickness, nor sorrow. 

But chiefly by the example of their mother 
were the daughters encouraged. She showed 
a filial acquiescence in the will of her hea- 
venly Father. Her submission was not con- 
strained, but an adoption of the divine will as 
her own. So conspicuous was this trait in 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 89 

her character, that when some external trou- 
ble has produced tremor and paleness, she 
has exhibited the same pleasantness of coun- 
tenance and conversation, as though nothing 
had befallen her. 

In her advanced years, though infirm, she 
walked to the place of public worship at least 
once on the Sabbath ; and she made particu- 
lar exertions to do it when the Lord's supper 
was to be administered. 

In the night she had many wakeful hours, 
which she employed in meditation and prayer, 
in which her mind was peculiarly serene, and 
her heart calmly and uninterruptedly engaged. 
She considered those deprived of a great privi- 
lege, with whom all the night was passed in sleep. 
In the day she blended these light domestic 
cares, in which it pleased her to take an in- 
terest, with devotional exercises, often speak- 
ing of God, and addressing him ; and repeat- 
ing, or singing verses of hymns appropriate to 
her views and feelings, in which her feeble 
voice was often assisted by her children . 

8 



90 MEMOIRS OF 

The veil, between her and the eternal state, 
seemed, at times, to be lifted up, or to have 
become a transparency ; on which side of it 
she was, she appeared scarcely to know. Her 
heart was in heaven ; and this induced her to 
adopt the language and praise of heaven. She 
had enlarged views, with corresponding im- 
pressions, of the moral state of the world, and 
of the prospects of the church. Deep was 
her sense of the deplorable condition of sin- 
ners, and of the obligations on Christians to 
promote their salvation. She felt a tender 
solicitude for those to whom she was natu- 
rally related, that they might all become the 
servants of Christ, and be engaged in promo- 
ting his cause. She looked forward with full 
confidence to the universal prevalence of 
the gospel, when " the kingdoms of this world 
shall become the kingdom of our Lord and 
his Christ ;" when the " Sun of righteousness 
shall shine in all nations, with healing in his 
beams, and there shall be nothing to hurt or 
destroy in all the earth." For this she fer- 
vently and constantly prayed ; and performed 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 91 

and promoted, so far as she was able, works 
subsidiary to this end. 

It can scarcely be said that she had sick- 
ness before her death. An indisposition, from 
a slight cold, affected her for a few days. The 
evening preceding her decease, she sang, 
though in a broken manner, the psalm alrea- 
dy transcribed, concluding with the words, 

" Witness, ye saints, who hear me now, 
If I forsake the Lord." 

In the morning she arose, and continued 
with the family till after dinner. She 
then retired, for the purpose of resting a 
short time ; but continued on the bed 
two or three hours, in a quiet sleep. Her 
youngest daughter then spoke to her, to give 
her some medicine and refreshment. She 
awoke, and said she would arise. In making 
the attempt, she failed ; and finding it diffi- 
cult, even with the assistance of her daughter, 
she said, she would lie a little longer. Her 
daughter then offered her an elixir, which she 
declined taking, from inconvenience, and as 
unnecessary. But on her daughter's saying, 



92 memoirs or 

" Dear mother, we wish you to be well," she 
replied, " I know it, my child," and drank it. 
Her daughter then left her for a few moments 
— but on her return, found that she had ex- 
pired. Her eyes were closed, her counte- 
nance was placid, her hands were clasped, and 
a tear was on her cheek, indicating that she 
was in an act of supplication when her spirit 
ascsi*<ied to the region of praise. 

Thus terminated, December 5th, 1831, the 
life of one whom the Lord had sustained 
ninety-one years and nine months, and se- 
venty-eight as a professor of the gospel. It 
is worthy of remark, that it was her last ex- 
pression in the public profession which she 
made of religion, " Ye are witnesses of my 
solemn vows and engagements to be the 
Lord's ; and ye will be witnesses against me 
if ever I forsake him." And it was her last 
expression in her hymn on earth, 

" Witness, ye saints, who hear me now, 
If I forsake the Lord." 

By the grace of God she was supported in 
all trials, and continued faithful unto death. 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 93 

So strong was the impression on the minds 
of her children and friends, that she was a 
Christian, and an heir of immortal life ; so 
familiar had the spiritual state become, and so 
near had it been brought to them, by her con- 
versation, her hopes and praises, that they 
viewed her, rather in relation to God and 
heaven, than to this frail world, and the 
grave. 

At her funeral, which was respectfully at- 
tended, the sentiments of the following hymn 
were felt to be just : 

'* Ah ! lovely appearance of death* 
No sight upon earth is so fair ; 
Not all the gay pageants that breathe s 
Can with a dead body compare. 

" With solemn delight 1 survey 

The corpse, when the spirit is fled; 
In love with the beautiful clay, 
And longing to lie in its stead." 

Whitfield, 

The following Sabbath a discourse was de- 
livered by the Rev, Dr. Hawes, pastor of the 

8* 



94 MEMOIRS OF 

church to which she belonged, on the char- 
acter and blessedness of the Christian ; and 
in a very judicious and feeling manner, he 
executed her request, that, after her decease, 
public thanks might be offered to God, for his 
mercy and faithfulness in being with her, and 
sustaining her through her long journey in the 
wilderness. 

She likewise mentioned, repeatedly, that it 
would be a gratification, could she believe that 
some memoirs would be published of her life ; 
not that she might be known and commend- 
ed, but that she might add her testimony to 
the faithfulness of God, and furnish encou- 
ragement to others to trust in him, in the 
darkest seasons, and in all their trials. 

This must have been her motive, for she 
was not ostentatious. She sought, not to ap- 
pear, but to be a disciple of Christ. She nei- 
ther prayed, nor read the Scriptures, nor 
practised any duty merely as a form. The flush 
on her moral countenance was not paint, but 
the result of pure and warm affection. Adopt- 
ing the will of God, she had respect to all his 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 95 

commands, and submitted to all his dispensa- 
tions. While " she lived, she lived to the Lord ; 
when she died, she died to the Lord ; living 
and dying, she was the Lord's" 

They who are thus devoted to the Redeem- 
er, shall be guided and supported ; they shall 
" go from one degree of grace to another, and 
finish their course with joy, and shall be uni- 
ted to the spirits of the just made perfect, in 
the kingdom of heaven." 

The following tributes of sympathy with the 
family, and affection and respect for the mem- 
ory of Mrs. Patten, are published with grati- 
tude to the authors. 

"Feb. 7th, 1832. 
To S. R. and M. Patten. 
My Dear Friends, 
Your letter of Dec. 31st, received but a 
few days since, gave me the first intelligence 
of the decease of my aged friend, and your 
venerable mother. 

It was a great mercy that she was so gently 
released from a world of sin and woe. The 



96 MEMOIRS OF 

world needed her, but she had long blessed it, 
and God's time had come for receiving her 
to her reward. 

I sympathize with you : but this new break- 
ing of tender ties may be the very means of 
uniting you more closely to the departed 
righteous person. 

The death of such a woman ought to be 
commemorated by a good poet ; yet have I 
ventured to say a few things of her, in the 
measure of poetry, which I enclose. 

May the Father of mercies sanctify this af- 
fliction, and make you such as she was whom 
you mourn. 

I am, with great regard, 

Your sincere friend, 

A." 

ON MADAM PATTEN. 

The aged pilgrim, then, has found repose, 
A shelter in the grave. Her joyous youth, 
By grace and beauty armed with gentle power, 
Was quickly pass'd. She felt the new formed ties 
Oflife ; yet soon, amidst a mothers cares, 
The arm on which in confidence and love 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 97 

She leaned, was smitten by a fatal shaft, 

And powerless fell. The widow's weeds she wore, 

Nor ceas'd to wear for many a year, till death. 

But she had joys, of which the world thinks not ; 

Her soul was stay'd on God. A Father's hand, 

In love correcting, not in angry mood, 

In ev'ry chastisement she seem'd serene ; 

She lifted up her head, in faith and hope, 

Amid the storm. As earthly blessings fled, 

She cried, "Now, Lord, I'll love thee for thyself alone." 

On forms of youthful loveliness, the eye 
Gazes, entranc'd. The rare and lofty zeal 
Of gentleness and energy combined, 
Toiling for good of out-cast, wandering men, 
Is object of delight. But neither youth 
Arrayed in beauty, nor yet years mature, 
Intelligent, refined, and nobly bent, 
Shed such a radiance round, as hoary age 
Calm in sharp discipline, and grasping firm 
The promises of God, blessing by prayer, 
A heedless world ; and glad in glorious hope 
Of quick translation to a home on high, 
To taste of heaven's illimitable good. 

The venerable saint has entered into rest. 
Without a pang, she gently fell asleep ; — 
Departed from the earth, she blesses still 
The lingerers behind, by prayers of faith, 



98 MEMOIRS OF 

Long uttered, and by bright example, too, 
Which lives in many a heart that knew her worth. 
She blesses me. I venerate her name. 

Monday, Dec- 12, 1831. 

Miss R. Patten, 

My dear Madam, 
May I present to yourself and sisters, the 
annexed slight tribute to the memory of that 
departed excellence, which to know, was to 
revere and love ; and with expressions of 
sympathy, and ardent wishes that our own 
death may be as peaceful and happy as her's 
whose life you have cheered by the purest fil- 
ial affection, 

I remain 

Yours, respectfully, 

L. H. SlGOURNEY. 

Thoughts on the Death of Madam Patten. 

I thought that death was terrible. I've seen 
His ministry on the distracted brow, 
The glazing eye, the struggles and the groan 
With which the heartstrings break. 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 99 

Yet here was one 
Whose summoned breath went forth as peacefully 
As folds the spent rose when the day is done. 
Life still was dear ; for, with a healthful rod, 
That charity, whose fruit is happiness, 
Did grow and blossom in her ; and the light 
Of her own cheerful spirit, flowing out, 
Did tinge earth's rain-drops with the dew of heaven. 

Time had respected her, and spared her brow 
Its beauty ; and her heart the unchilled warmth 
Of these affections, gentle and sublime, 
Which make the fire-side holy. Hand in hand 
With these her care had nurtured, and who joy'd 
To pay their debt of gratitude, she passed 
Benign and graceful down the vale of age, 
Wrapp'd up in tender love. Without a sigh, 
A change of feature, or a shaded smile, 
She gave her hand to the stern messenger ; 
And as a glad child seeks its Father's arms, 
Went home. 

She, in her Saviour's ranks had done 
A veteran's service ; and with Poly carp, 
Might say to death ; " For more than fourscore years 
He was my Lord. Shall I deny him now ?" 
No, no ; thou could'st not turn away from Him 
Who was thy hope from youth ; and on whose word 
Thy feebleness of hoary hairs was staid. 



100 MEMOIRS OF 

Before his Father and the angel trust 
He will adjudge thee faithful. 

So, farewell. 
Blessed and full of days ! No more thy prayer 
Up through the solitude of night shall go 
To bless thy children's children ; nor thy soul 
Yearn for re-union to those kindred ones 
Who went to rest before thee. 'Twas not meet 
That thou should'st longer tarry from the bliss 
"Which God reserveth for the pure in heart. 

Extracts from the Sermon delivered by her 
son, in his church in Newport, December 
11th, 1830, on occasion of her death. 
Those parts which described her character 
are omitted, as they are contained in the pre- 
ceding memoirs. 

1st Thess. iv. 13, 14. 

" But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, 
concerning those which are asleep, that ye sorrow not 
even as others, which have no hope. For if we believe 
that Jesus died and rose again, even so them that sleep in 
Jesus, will God bring with him." 

" The greatest of worldly sorrows is the 
dissolution of those ties which bind us to so- 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 101 

ciety. Society is the light of life. The 
death of a friend sometimes produces a sense 
of desolation which changes the whole aspect 
of the world. 

Death is the most despairing of events. 
If a friend be absent on a journey, we expect 
his return ; if he be sick, we indulge the hope 
of his recovery ; but when he dies, all hope 
is extinguished. " He shall return no more 
to his house, neither shall his place know him 
any more." 

This cause of sorrow is common to all. 
Yet were our friends in that change to cease 
to exist ; were they to be " as though they 
had never been," the reason for sorrow 
would be inexpressibly enhanced. But we 
are taught by Revelation, that the soul has a 
continued existence, and that the body shall 
be restored to life, so that it is not dead, but 
asleep. 

For this knowledge we are indebted sole- 
ly to revelation. It was not included, by the 
heathen, in their hope of immortality. Their 
hope was confined entirely to the soul. The 
9 



102 MEMOIRS OF 

resurrection of the body, when suggested to 
them, from its contrariety to nature and ex- 
perience, was rejected as incredible. The 
doctrine, though expressed in former revela- 
tions, is brought more clearly to light since 
the appearance of Christ, and is confirmed 
by his resurrection from the dead. He as- 
serts, that " all who are in their graves shall 
hear his voice, and come forth." It is said, 
that " w r e must all stand before the judgment 
seat of Christ, and give an account of the 
deeds done in the body." In our text the re- 
surrection of the saints is argued from the 
resurrection of Christ, " If we believe that 
Jesus died and rose again, them also that 
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him ;" and 
the general resurrection of the dead is argued 
by the apostle from the same topic. If there 
be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ 
not risen ; but Christ is risen, and become 
the first fruits of them that slept. For since 
by man came death, by man came also the re- 
surrection of the dead." 

The knowledge of this doctrine is not, in 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 103 

itself, a consolation, for in the future state all 
will not be happy; and to be miserable is 
more to be deplored than not to exist. The 
resurrection will be a blessing only to those 
who sleep in Jesus. In order to this it is ne- 
cessary, while in life, to become his disciple. 
It is impossible that any relation to him 
should commence when the body is in the 
grave ; for there all those intellectual and 
moral capacities and exercises of the soul, of 
which the body was formerly the organ, have 
gone with the soul to an invisible state, and 
the body is left senseless and inanimate. " In 
the grave there is no wisdom, nor work, nor 
device, nor knowledge." Were it possible 
for the soul, in this separation, to experience 
a change of character, the body could have 
no interest in it, as its operative and vital con- 
nexion with the soul is dissolved, and it has 
turned to dust. 

To be a disciple of Christ is represented in 
various passages of scripture, and by various 
figures, as being in Him. " If any man be in 
Christ, he is a new creature/' " There is no 



104 MEMOIRS OP 

condemnation to them that are in Him." 
" That I may be found in Him." " As ye have 
received Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk ye in 
Him, rooted and built up in Him." There is 
no phrase more expressive of the entire de- 
pendence of the believer on Christ, and of the 
complete influence of Christ over him. As it 
is said in a natural sense, that " in God we 
live, and move, and have our being ;" so the 
believer, by being in Christ, derives from Him 
life, light, and strength ; his defence from evil, 
and all his supplies and hope of good. 

They who are thus in Christ while they 
live, when they die sleep in Him. They are 
mystically his body. As he has arisen from 
the dead, and ascended to heaven, and is in- 
vested with all authority, he will release them 
from the bands of death, and give them the 
victory over all the powers of darkness, and 
crown them with glory in his kingdom. In 
vain did he die, in vain does he live, if they 
who believe in him shall not experience com- 
plete salvation. 

This subject is necessary to general conso- 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 105 

lation. It is so to the speaker and his family 
connections, who have recently been bereav- 
ed of their mother. It is the language of our 
feelings, " Art thou indeed gone ? the nurse 
of our infancy, the guardian of our childhood, 
the guide of our youth ? our counsellor at all 
times, to whom we resorted in our perplexi- 
ties and troubles, and in whose love, prudence, 
and judgment, we so safely confided? Thou, 
who wast so importunate in thy prayers for 
us through life ; by our bed side, in the fami- 
ly, and in secret ? Alas ! mother, art thou 
gone ? In the house, so endeared to us by 
thy presence, thou art no where to be found ; 
not even in the chamber where in feebleness 
thou wast accustomed to repose, not a whisper 
of thy breath is to be heard. Shall we then go 
to the place of burial ? Here we are taught 
that we shall see thy face no more ; that thy 
mild eye, thy maternal smile, and every thing 
interesting in thy appearance, are obliterated 
in dust. 

Oppressed with grief, and encompassed with 
darkness, we hear a voice from heaven, say- 

9* 



106 MEMOIRS OF 

ing, " Sorrow not as others who have no hope. 
They who sleep in Jesus will God bring with 
him." This assurance, with gratitude we re- 
ceive, and will not sorrow as others who have 
no hope. 

Mother, thou art not dead. Thou hast gone 
to the bosom, not of Abraham, but of Christ, 
his promised son, our Lord and Saviour. Thou 
art united to the spirits of the just made per- 
fect. 

How great must be her joy in seeing Him, 
" whom, having not seen, she loved." How 
great must be her joy in seeing those Chris- 
tian relatives and friends from whom she was 
separated in tears ! How great must be her 
joy in meeting the patriarchs and prophets, 
the apostles and martyrs, from whose writings 
and example she had derived so much instruc- 
tion and encouragement! How great must be 
her joy in seeing the mysteries of providence 
explained, and the designs of God unfolded, 
and in having the clearest view of his perfec- 
tion, and enjoying the unclouded light of his 
countenance! As included in his designs, and 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 107 

faithfulness, she knows that her body, which 
sleeps in the dust, shall be raised spiritual and 
glorious ; that as a part of the constitution of 
her nature, it is in covenant with Christ, and 
when he returns to judge the world, it shall 
awake in his likeness, and re-united to the soul, 
she shall be presented faultless before the pre- 
sence of his glory, and with all the redeemed, 
shall have an open and abundant entrance 
ministered to her into the everlasting king- 
dom and joy of the Lord. 

This instance of bereavement, in which our 
sorrow is so much assuaged by hope, is adapt- 
ed to our encouragement. May the life and 
death of our friend be sanctified to us, and to 
all who were acquainted with her. May her 
instructions be impressed on the minds and 
hearts of her children. May her example be 
followed. May her prayers be answered. 
May her removal from the world be followed 
with an addition to the church, and an increase 
of faith and obedience in the saints. Then 
her death will be a blessing as well as her 
life, and greater will be our reason to rejoice 
than mourn. 



108 MEMOIRS OF 

REMARKS 

On the Public Relation given by Mrs. Patten, 
of her Christian Experience. 

As in her subsequent life there was evidence 
of her being a real Christian, as in her tem- 
per in all trials, and her works on all occa- 
sions, she " adorned the doctrines of God our 
Saviour," there must have been, in the com- 
mencement of her religious experience, the el- 
ements of the Christian character. These it 
may be useful to examine. 

1st. She was convinced of sin ; that her 
heart was depraved ; that she was an enemy 
to God. 

As the law of God requires only love, all 
sin must originate, and be seated, in the 
heart. A conviction of sin implies, therefore, 
a consciousness of depravity of heart. To ex- 
culpate the heart, and yet condemn the con- 
duct, is absurd ; it is like condemning the 
fruit, and yet justifying the tree that bears it. 

She had not been conscious of depravity of 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 109 

heart, for she had exercised natural affec- 
tions, and expressed them, according to her 
natural views, in all relations. In this re- 
spect she was peculiarly blameless, and might 
say, she had " kept the divine commands from 
her childhood." But when brought to see the 
nature of the divine law; that it required her 
to " love God with all her heart, and her 
neighbor as herself," she found that this love 
she had not exercised ; and therefore that 
she was a transgressor. 

In being a transgressor, she was constrain- 
ed to admit the conviction, that she was an 
enemy to God. In no other temper of heart 
than this can the law be transgressed ; for 
God himself is the object of that love which his 
law requires. To transgress is, therefore, not 
only to violate the authority by which the law 
is enacted, but to refuse that love for God 
which the precept requires. In transgressing, 
there must therefore be enmity to God. 
There can be no neutrality of character in 
one, as a subject of this law. If the law can- 



110 MEMOIRS OF 

not be transgressed unless in enmity to God, 
the transgression of it is evidently sinful ; for 
it must be sinful to be an enemy to God. 

In correspondence to this, it is written, 
" The carnal mind is enmity against God. It 
is not subject to his law, neither indeed can 
be ;" and the apostle Paul observes, that 
" though he had lived in all good conscience 
before God, yet when the commandment 
came, sin revived, and he died ;" and that 
" the commandment which was ordained unto 
life, he found to be unto death," condemning 
him for his transgression of it. 

2. She attempted to recommend herself to 
God, by the works of the law, but did not, in 
this way, find peace. 

When one, without love, attempts to obey 
the law, he does not act from the spirit of 
obedience ; he obeys, only in letter or form ; 
and therefore his works are not truly right- 
eous. 

In addition to this, when the law has been 
once transgressed, it is impossible, by future 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. Ill 

obedience, though it were perfect, to obtain 
justification by it, or be relieved from condem- 
nation. "The law knows no mercy." It makes 
no provision for pardon, on repentance and 
future obedience. It pronounces a curse on 
" every one who continues not in all things, 
written in the law, to do them," and considers 
him " who offends in one point, as guilty of 
the whole law." Not even the saint, either 
in this life, or to eternity, will be justified by 
his own works ; for he will ever be the same 
person who once transgressed the law, and 
therefore has not rendered that entire obedi- 
ence which the law require^ 

3dly. She was convinced that the depravi- 
ty of her heart was the only bar to her salva- 
tion. 

God can, and does require of a creature 
nothing more than his heart ; more than 
this a creature cannot give. To give his heart 
is to give himself, and all that he has. 

From the provision made in the gospel for 
pardon and eternal life, to give the heart to 
God is all that is necessary to salvation. 



112 MEMOIRS OF 

Then the understanding will be enlightened, 
and all the faculties of the soul will be prop- 
erly exercised, and brought into submission to 
God. With justice therefore, was she con- 
vinced that the depravity of her heart was the 
only obstacle in the way of her salvation. 

4thly. She found that she could not give 
her heart to God, and that no means, or cre- 
ated agent, could enable her to do it ; but 
that it must be the work of the Spirit of God. 

She must give her heart herself, else it 
would not be her act ; yet she could not do it 
of herself. There is a contradiction in sup- 
posing that a heart inimical to God, should, 
of itself, be inclined to love him, or give itself 
to him in friendship. Convinced, through 
her understanding, and by the medium of 
conscience, of the depravity of her heart, she 
found it to be a plague which she could not 
cure, a bond of iniquity which she could not 
break ; but guilty and perilous as the exercise 
was, that it would still rise in opposition to 
God. \ 

Nor could she find relief from the power of 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 113 

means. Means refer to some agent, without 
whom they are nothing. What is a pen with- 
out a hand to write ? or a harp without some 
one to touch its strings ? The means of grace 
refer to the agency of God, and of man. They 
are means by which God instructs and con- 
verts sinners ; and they are means, in the use 
of which sinners become instructed and con- 
verted. In these means, God and man may 
co-operate j or they may make use of the 
same means, at the same time. But no one 
can co-operate with God in that power by 
which the means are rendered effectual. This 
belongs to God alone. He can have no part- 
ner in this power more than in his throne. 
This is necessary, that salvation may be as- 
cribed to him, and be to " the praise of the 
glory of his grace." 

In the sense explained, the apostle Paul 
speaks of himself and other ministers, as co- 
operating with God, if the word with, rather 
than of, be a just translation of the passage. 
44 We are workers together with God." He 
co-operated with God in using means to con- 

10 



114 MEMOIRS OF 

vince and convert sinners, and to edify the 
saints ; but he wholly disclaims any part of 
that power by which his labors were rendered 
effectual. Though he was not " behind the 
chiefest of the apostles, he was nothing." 
" All his sufficiency was of God." 

God would always render the means of 
grace effectual, were it his sole object in them 
to save mankind ; but it is also his design to 
show the exceeding depravity and obstinacy 
of the sinful heart, and the justice with which 
he may destroy, and his grace in saving the 
transgressor. He does not, therefore, accom- 
pany with his sanctifying influence, those 
means which are employed more immediately 
and solely by himself. All his dispensations 
are means of grace, as they are adapted to 
teach men his righteousness and goodness, 
and bring them to repentance. This is true 
of the light of the sun, and rain from heaven, 
and of all the divine mercies and judgments. 

For this reason, the ministry of the most 
eminent and faithful servants of God is not, in 
all instances, attended with success. This was 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 115 

true of Noah, who preached to a world of sin- 
ners, that remained impenitent ; of Moses and 
Aaron, in their mission to Pharaoh, who refu- 
sed to obey the Lord, and let Israel go ; of the 
Prophets and apostles ; and especially of 
Christ, who said to the Jews, that they " had 
seen and hated both him and the father, and 
that they had " no cloak for their sins." And 
he places it in a clear light, by the figure of 
a " barren fig-tree," which was spared anoth- 
er year, that every possible cultivation should 
be bestowed on it ; and if then it should not 
bear fruit, it was to be cut down. 

In his regenerating grace, God operates ac- 
cording to the moral nature, or free agency of 
man. He does not compel, but inclines. 
His influence is not felt, but experienced. It 
is in this respect, like the power of Christ in 
giving sight to the blind. From their knowing 
that they were once blind, but that then they 
saw, they knew that the power of Christ had 
been exerted in their favor. 

The convert wills, which is an evidence that 
he is free. But this will is an effect ; and as 



116 MEMOIRS OF 

there was no adequate cause for it in his own 
heart, there must be found a reason in the 
previous agency of God. They cannot be 
simultaneous, for a cause must, of necessity, 
precede the existence of its effect. In cor- 
respondence to this, the apostle Paul styles 
Christians, " God's workmanship, created in 
Christ Jesus, unto good works ;" and he ex- 
horts them to " work out their salvation with 
fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh 
in them to will and to do of his good pleasure." 
If men depend on God for the support, pro- 
gress, and completion of the work of sancti- 
fication, they must be dependant on him for the 

commencement of that work. 

5thly. The conviction of guilt and helpless- 
ness, and of her dependance on God, was at- 
tended with great distress, and with earnest 
desires that she might know how to give her 
heart to God, and with cries to him that he 
would teach her, and enable her to do it. 

When dependance on God is made a plea 
for neglecting religion, it shows that the mind 
is not convinced of sin, nor awakened to its 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 117 

awful consequences. The acknowledgment 
is merely theoretic, and is adopted as a re- 
fuge for continued impenitence and disobedi- 
ence. 

A real conviction of sin and danger will 
cause inexpressible distress, and induce the 
soul to look to God with earnest desire to be 
taught the way of deliverance, and brought to 
the experience of it. This desire is natural ; 
it is the desire of happiness, and in itself con- 
sidered, is neither sinful nor holy. It is a 
means by which God brings the sinner to him. 
It is one of the most important, and a neces- 
sary means of grace, for they who are without 
the desire of salvation are without natural as 
well as moral affection ; they are " twice dead, 
and ready to be plucked up by the roots." 

It is likewise the natural consequence of a 
sense of dependance on God, to look to him 
for deliverance. From him alone, help can 
come ; and it is not presumptuous to cry to 
him for it, since salvation is possible, and the 
blessing is desired in the way that God may 
10* 



118 MEMOIRS OF 

teach, and on the terms he may enable the soul 
to perform. 

6thly. In this state of mind, she had a sense 
of the sovereignty of God ; that she was in his 
hands, and that it depended on his will, wheth- 
er she should be saved, or left to perish. She 
was a transgressor of his law, and therefore 
in the hands of God, as sovereign. Though 
he might save, he might justly destroy ; and 
as salvation would be of grace, it must be a 
sovereign act. In the dispensation of mercy, 
God is influenced by what he sees to be best. 
That he does not save all, is not owing to a 
want of compassion, or willingness that they 
should be saved ; but to its not being consist- 
ent. He is therefore sovereign in the deter- 
mination to do what is best. This is the 
character in which he requires love by his 
law. 

Mrs. Patten was convinced of her depend- 
ance on the will of God; and awaited, in the 
deepest possible concern, his decision. 

7thly. She was brought to light and peace, 
by being brought to love Christ. 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 119 

She might have expected relief from God, 
as infinite in mercy. Though mercy is an 
essential attribute of the divine nature, yet it 
can be exercised only through the medium of 
the Son. To believe in God as merciful, 
without equal faith in the Son, is to believe 
in him in a sense in which he cannot save. 
Mrs. Patten had heard of Jesus Christ as a 
Saviour, and assented to the representation ; 
but she had not considered, or understood his 
character. In heart she was a Unitarian. 
But when God revealed his Son in her, she 
was " brought out of darkness into his mar- 
vellous light. She realized the truth of the 
words of Christ, " He that hath seen me, hath 
seen the Father, 5 ' and " This is the will of 
Him w r ho sent me, that he that seeth the Son, 
and believeth in him, may have everlasting 
life." 

8th. It is not an objection to her experi- 
ence, that she did not know, at the time, that 
it was of a saving nature. 

As Christ must be declared, before one can 
believe in him ; so faith in his character as 



120 MEMOIRS OF 

Saviour, must precede the knowledge of one's 
personal salvation. As they are distinct, they 
may be separated by a shorter or longer inter- 
val of time. Salvation does not depend on 
the assurance of salvation, but on previous 
exercises which are the ground of that assu- 
rance. 

In true faith, love for Christ is exercised ; 
and thus the attention is naturally attracted to 
him, and dwells on him. The believer sees 
such an excellence and glory in his character, 
as to love him and rejoice in him without 
thinking of himself, or expecting or desiring 
any other happiness. This corresponds to 
the expression of the apostle, " whom, hav- 
ing not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now 
ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with 
joy unspeakable and full of glory." 

Reflecting on this experience, she found it a 
testimony of her being a friend to Christ ; and 
therefore that she was his disciple, and an 
heir of his kingdom. 

9th. She was brought to exercise a new 
love for her fellow men. 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 121 

As the second command is like the first, if 
she had a new love for God, she had a new 
love for her neighbor. She became sensible 
of her relation to all mankind, as children of 
the same family ; she perceived the distinc- 
tion of character between the righteous and 
the wicked ; and while she felt a complacency 
in the righteous, she earnestly desired the re- 
pentance and salvation of the wicked ; and 
thus was disposed to do good to all men. 

10th. It was her desire to enter publicly 
into covenant with the Lord, and to devote 
herself to him wholly and forever ; and to seal 
her engagements by communing in the supper. 
From this she was not deterred by a sense of 
unworthiness, nor was she influenced in pro- 
ceeding that she might recommend herself; 
but she acted from love to Christ, and regard 
for all his commands, and with confidence in 
his grace and faithfulness, that " she should 
be kept from falling, and finally be presented 
faultless before the presence of his glory." 



True religion is the impression of truth in 
the heart. Christ prayed to the Father for his 



122 MEMOIRS OF 

people, " Sanctify them through thy truth ; thy 
word is truth." The word of God is represent- 
ed as seed,ihc fruits of which are all the graces 
of the christian character, and all the joys of 
the kingdom of heaven. 

If there be false doctrines, there may be 
false experiences of religion ; for the religion 
of men ever corresponds to the doctrines they 
believe. This is apparent in the general de- 
nominations of religion among men. The 
religion of idolaters corresponds to what they 
believe of the various idols whom they wor- 
ship ; the religion of the Mahometans, to 
what they believe of the character and doc- 
trines of Mahomet ; of the Jews, to what they 
believe respecting the writing of Moses. 

Among those who profess to believe the 
gospel, there may be views of its doctrines so 
contrary to truth as to be inconsistent with 
the hope of salvation. Christ speaks of " a 
light in man that is darkness." Even his dis- 
ciples did not, in all instances, know " what 
manner of spirit they were of;" and we are 
directed to " try the spirits that we may know 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 123 

which is of God." As all true Christians 
agree in the essential doctrines of the gospel, 
so their experiences agree in essential princi- 
ples, however they may vary in circumstances 
and forms. In all respects no two are alike. 
From the danger of delusion, each one should 
have a sense of the importance of " examin- 
ing himself, whether he be in faith," and any 
assistance in this duty from the experience of 
those who have finished their course in faith- 
fulness, there is reason cheerfully to improve. 



Mrs. Patten esteemed it one of the greatest 
privileges and honors, that so many to whom 
she was naturally related, and with whom in 
general she was acquainted, were professed 
Christians, and, especially ministers of the 
Gospel. In this respect, she was distinguish- 
ed. As it may not displease the reader, and 
will particularly gratify some of her surviving 
relatives, a sketch of the affinities will be sub- 
joined ; though from want of knowledge, it 
will be imperfect. 

In addition to those already mentioned, 
one of the brothers of her mother was a min- 



124 MEMOIRS OF 

ister, Rev. James Davenport, and his son was 
a minister, Rev. John Davenport. A second 
brother of her mother, Hon. Abraham Daven- 
port, of Stamford, was a professor and firm 
supporter of religion, and there was much re- 
ligion in his family connexions. His daugh- 
ter married Dr. James Cogswell, a skilful and 
pious physician, who was son of Rev. Dr. 
Cogswell, of Windham, and whose only 
daughter married the Rev. Mr. Fisher. The 
eldest son of Abraham Davenport, Hon. John 
Davenport, was pious, and married a daughter 
of Rev. Mr. Welles, of Stamford. Several of 
their children were pious ; one of them is the 
wife of Judge RadclifF, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

The second son of Abraham Davenport, 
Hon. James Davenport, was distinguished for 
ability and usefulness. Three of his daugh- 
ters married ministers ; the Rev. Messrs. 
Whelpley and Bruen, of N. Y. and Rev. Dr. 
Skinner, Professor in the Theological Sem- 
inary, Andover. 

One of the sisters of Mrs. Patten's mother 
married the Rev. Dr. Williams, of Springfield, 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 125 

who had three sons in the ministry, one of 
them, Rev. Dr. Williams, of Tolland. The 
Rev. Mr. Storrs, who was successor to Dr. 
Williams of Springfield, married one of his 
grand-daughters, a pious woman. They had 
two sons in the ministry, Rev. Mr. Storrs of 
Braintree, and Rev. Mr. Storrs, president of 
the Western Reserve college, Ohio. In this 
connexion, were Rev. Mr. Stebbins, who mar- 
ried a daughter of Rev. Mr. Streat, and Rev. 
Messrs. Barker and Reynolds. 

The father of Mrs. Patten was the only son 
of pious parents. One of his sisters married 
Rev. Dr. Pomroy of Hebron, one of whose 
daughters married Rev. Dr. Macclure of East 
Windsor, and two of whose grand-daughters 
married ministers, Rev. Mr. Basset, and the 
other, pastor of a church in Newark, N. J. 

Another sister of the father of Mrs. Patten 
married Mr. Bingham, a pious man, one of 
whose daughters married Rev. S. Kirkland, 
missionary to the Oneida Indians, who was 
father of Rev. Dr. Kirkland, late president of 
Harvard university. In this connexion is 

11 



126 MEMOIRS OF 

Rev. Mr. Bingham, missionary at the Sand- 
wich Islands. 

A son of the eldest sister of Mrs. Patten 
was a minister of the Episcopal order, and 
settled in Canada. Mrs. Patten's father mar- 
ried, for his second wife. Miss Mary Brins- 
made of Milford, a pious woman, by whom he 
had three sons and two daughters, all of whom 
became professors of religion, and lived to 
adult years, and were married. 

The eldest son, Hon. John Wheelock, was 
successor of his father as president of the col- 
lege, and married Miss Sechm, daughter of a 
governor of St. Thomas, and daughter-in-law 
of Mr. Boudinot of New Jersey, a pious wo- 
man, by whom he had one child, a daughter, 
who married Rev. Dr. Allen, president of 
Bowdoin college, Me. 

The eldest daughter married B. Woodward, 
Esq., for a time a preacher, afterwards pro- 
fessor of mathematics in the college ; one of 
his sons is pastor of a church ; another a mis- 
sionary in Ceylon ; and one of his daughters 
married Rev. Mr. Searl, a missionary in S. C. 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 127 

The second daughter married Rev. Sylva- 
iius Ripley, professor of Divinity in the col- 
lege, and was mother of General E. W. Rip. 
ley, and General J. Ripley, the former of 
whom married a daughter of Rev. Mr. Allen, 
of Pittsfield. 

The third son has a son in the ministry, 
and a daughter, married to Rev. Dr. Marsh 5 
president of Burlington college, Vt. 

May those of the relatives who read this 
list, be solicitous to secure the blessings of 
that covenant into which the Lord entered 
with their fathers ; and be sensible of the ob- 
ligations upon them from so many examples.* 
to " shine as lights in the world*' 9 



LETTERS, 



In the following compilation, it is the object of the 
transcriber to furnish a sample of Mrs. Patten's man- 
ner of writing ; and it was his purpose to add several 
letters to her, expressive of the piety and esteem of her 
friends ; but the prescribed limits of the work do not 
admit of it. 



LETTER L 

TO HER SON W. P. 

March 8th, 1808. 
My very dear Son, 

We received your affectionate and consoling letter 
of February, which gave renewed occasion for grati- 
tude. 

There is no mother, I know, that is so happy in her 
children as your's. I have the satisfaction of seeing 
them, as I hope, " walking in the truth," of serving 
God faithfully, from a principle of love. I pray that 
we may not deceive others, nor be ourselves de- 
ceived. 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 129 

The goodness of God is truly great in preserving 
the lives of so many of the family ; and when repeat- 
edly threatened, especially of late. I think I can see 
much of the faithfulness and mercy of a covenant 
keeping God, in his dealings towards us. May it be 
our study to bring forth fruits meet for Him^ by whom 
we have been protected and nourished. But, O ! my 
son, what reason have we to cry with the Prophet, 
46 My leanness, my leanness !" How unprofitable 
have we been, considering the advantages we have 
enjoyed under divine cultivation ! How indolent con- 
sidering the fields of labor ; and how little affected 
considering how many souls, unconscious of their 
danger, are moving beyond the gulf which cannot be 
repassed, 

With respect to sketches of my life, for which you 
have expressed a solicitude, I have often wished that 
some were written, for the benefit of my children, if 
2iot of others, to show how little our happiness con- 
sists in the abundance that we possess ; and what en- 
couragement to " stand still and see the salvation of 
God." 

The instances of faith, in ancient and modern times, 
have not appeared to me strange, in the reasonable- 
ness of implicit trust in God, seeking his guidance, of 
following whither he leads, of the encouragement, the 
strength, the blessedness of his presence. May he, 
from his infinite fulness, grant us all these supplies of 
grace that we need. 

I do not know, that for some years, I have felt any 
particular desires with regard to the things of the 

11* 



130 MEMOIRS OF 

world. I consider it a duty to be industrious and 
prudent, that we may have enough for ourselves, and 
to give to others ; but in what is spiritual, I feel my 
desires are very strong to see my posterity in the way 
of obedience, examples of piety and usefulness, and 
the cause of religion extend and prevail. 

You know, my son, I have been in a great diversity 
of trials ; but I can say, in humility for my great un- 
worthiness, that God has fulfilled his gracious promi- 
ses to us. There is no earthly friend or property, that. 
as an object of confidence, can be compared with 
Sim, 

Your affectionate Mother, 

R. P. 



LETTER II. 

TO W. AND H. P. 

May 17, 1*808. 
My dear children, 

1 desire to bless God that I am preserved to an- 
swer another of your welcome letters. 

I have had a severe attack of disease. I felt very 
cold, and in great pain ; and determined to take some 
warm tea, and retire to bed. After a few sips, which 
I threw up, I became lethargic, and remained in- 
sensible three or four hours. A physician was imme- 
diately with me, and every thing was done that could 
be ; but when restored to recollection, I was still dis- 
posed to relapse into a sleep like death. Since my 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 131 

relief, I have been very feeble, but am gradually gain- 
ing strength. 

How many times has God appeared for me ! O, 
may my spared life, and all that I have, be devoted to 
him. Pray for me. I can write but little* 

Give grandma's best love to your children, and a 
kiss to each of them. Tell them I long to see them ; 
and that it is my daily prayer, that, as they advance 
in life, they may, in heart, leave the world behind, 
and press forward, with the heavenly inheritance in 
view. 

Your affectionate Mother, 

R. P. 



LETTER III. 

TO THE REV. H. B., MISSIONARY TO THE SAND- 
WICH ISLANDS. 

July 5, 1830. 
Rev. and dear Sir, 

I am happy to forward to you a token of affection, 
left by my dear departed son, George. The little 
sacred volume may be a convenient pocket compan- 
ion, in your removals and excursions among the hea- 
then. My daughters will put up a few trifles for 
dear Mrs. B. in the package with which this will be 
sent. 

We greatly rejoice in your prosperity, by the bles- 
sing of God, in your joint endeavors to advance the 
kingdom of our glorious Redeemer. 



132 MEMOIRS OF 

The cause of missions lies very near our hearts, 
There has no day passed, without our remembrance of 
you at the throne of grace. God's goodness to you, and 
all other dear friends in that region, has been very great, 
and we hope, ere long, to hear of greater things than 
these, when the spirit shall be poured out in rich abun- 
dance, the gospel run and be glorified, and the earth be 
filled with the knowledge and glory of the divine Re- 
deemer. Happy the instruments in promoting so noble 
a cause. 

And now my dear friends, I know not whether I 
should ask you to mourn or rejoice with us in the remo- 
val of my beloved son. The latterbecomes an unwor- 
thy mother, who has been instrumental of introducing 
into the world an heir of glory, to which state I have 
no reason to doubt he is advanced. Still, the bereave- 
ment is very sorrowful ; and I doubt not, that an aged 
mother, in her 91st year, will find an advocate in your 
compassionate bosom for her grief. He was my young- 
est child ; and not long since, the most healthy in the 
family. But though the Lord slay me and mine, yet 
will I trust in him, and when every blessing is flown, 
will love him for himself alone. 

Pray earnestly for us, my dear friends ; and for the 
beloved land of your nativity, lest the heathen rise up 
in the judgment and condemn us ; for many of them, 
as there is reason to hope, repented at the first annunci- 
ation of the gospel ; but alas ! we, who have ever lived 
in its meridian lustre, are still hardened in sin. 
" Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove, 

With all thy quick'ning powers, 
Come, shed abroad a Saviour's love, 

And that shall kindle ours." 



MRS, RUTH PATTEN. 133 

My family unite with me in best love to yourselves 
and all the brethren and sisters in your connection, 
(though unknown) for are we not " one in the Lord." 
That the God of grace may be with you, is the constant 
prayer of 

Your affectionate friend, 

R. P. 



LETTER IV. 

THE ANSWER TO THE PRECEDING, BY THE REV. H. B, 

Owyhee, 1832, 
Dear Mrs. Patten, 

Your friendly letter, I have received, and the pre- 
cious, little sacred volume, neatly and kindly marked 
for me, having on the silver clasp, the initials of your 
dear departed son's name, G. J. P. 

It will be a pleasure to use these convenient pocket 
companions, in some of my exercises among the people ; 
and should they be preserved safely, I hope they may 
be useful to my little, only son, whose name they bear 
also. 

It is a coftifort to us to be so often assured that our 
Christian friends pray for us, while w T e attempt to break 
up the fallow ground, and to sow the good seed even 
though much may still fall among thorns, and some by 
the way side, and some in stony places ; for some we 
believe will fall in good ground, and, watered, as it 
will be by your prayers, will bring forth fruit, 

1 have recently returned from a short tour of ten 
days, to a station about 100 miles from me, where the 



134 



MEMOIRS OF 



spirit of the Lord, it is believed, was influencing the 
hearts of some of the sons and daughters of paganism, 
to turn from their sins, and to seek an interest in 
Christ. 

Thus you see, that you, who can say, " There has 
no day passed without my remembrance of you at the 
throne of grace," have not daily approached the throne 
of grace for us, and our poor people, in vain. 

It would have been a comfort to you to see what a 
change Christianity has pi oduced in a few individuals 
of this nation. If the Lord can make such trophies 
among the heathen, what can he not do among the chil- 
dren of Christians, w T hose parents and ancestors have 
laid up many prayers for them, and for whom faithful 
ffiirristers pray and preach, and to whom the whole Bi- 
ble, with all its claims, speaks from dayto day, in a tone 
of indisputably divine authority ? 

Let the mothers in Israel take courage, when the 
sons of the church are ready to faint, God can hear 
their prayers in the obscurest closet, and send answers 
of peace, unto the ends of the earth. 

I have recently heard of the death of both my pa- 
rents. But the Lord can take me up. I Chink I can 
trust in him. 

Yours, truly, H. B. 



LETTER V. 
to mrs. s. l., Norwalk. 

May 20, 182S. 
My very dear niece, 
Since the decease of your beloved and worthy son, 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 135 

in so sudden and distressing a manner,* I have wished 
to write, but the indisposition of myself and family has 
prevented. I am now scarcely able to hold my pen ; 
but a sense of duty and affection for you, induce me to 
make the attempt. The excellent character your son 
sustained in all his relations, though a source of grief 
in his removal, is yet a reason for gratitude and conso- 
lation, in the hope that he is taken to a higher and a 
better world. 

We ought to submit, and to submit with cheerful- 
ness to the divine dispensation, since God is our Fa- 
ther, and all his dispensations result from infinite be- 
nevolence, and wisdom, and mercy. Instead of mur- 
muring, they should cause us to trust in him. Instead 
of alienating, they should bring us nearer to him. The 
nearer we are, the greater will be our safety and con- 
solation. 

Itis important to understand the loving kindness of 
the Lord, which is often mysterious. The late Dr. S. 
of this city, a man of piety and experience in religion, 
observed, that " were he to go into his closet to thank 
God for his mercies, afflictions would come first on the 
list." Sanctified afflictions produce bright views of 
God, and the most sensible enjoyments. 

Your son passed the evening with us before his de- 
parture for New York. He said " he had called, by 
your request ; but that in future, he should call on his 



* By the bursting of a boiler in a steam boat, on his passage 
from Hartford to New York. 



136 MEMOIRS OF 

own account." We were much pleased with his so- 
cial qualities, as well as his remarks on religion. 

We should be highly gratified by an acquaintance 
with the survivors of your dear family. I am now 87 
years old, and have experienced much of the good- 
ness and faithfulness of God, in both mercies and af- 
flictions, so that I can testify that " goodness and mer- 
cy have followed me all the days of my life ;" and I 
hope, through grace, I shall " dwell in the house of the 
Lord forever ;" even that house " not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens." 

That you, and yours, may experience the joy and 
peace of believing, is the prayer of 

Ycur affectionate Aunt, 

R. P. 



LETTER VI. 

TO ONE OF HEP. GRANDSONS. 

May, 1822. 
My dear J., 

Hearing you are about to leave your father's house, 
that you may seek employment abroad, let me earnest- 
ly entreat you to be faithful in the service of the Lord. 
If we have no disinterested love for him, and our fellow 
men, our hearts are bound up in self, and we must 
be despicable, indeed. May we have just ideas of the 
divine character ; love it for what it is in itself; have 
a just sense of our own unworthiness, and our constant 
need of divine guidance and protection. 

O, my dear son, this will ever be the first desire of 



MRS. RUTH PATT2N. 137 

my heart, and it will be my last petition, that God would 
grant you that humility, that faith, that love, which con- 
stitute a child of God. 

I write as a dying parent to a dying child ; or, rath- 
er, to one that is born to die. May the Lord direct 
your steps, bless and prosper you, and make you a great 
blessing. There is much to do in the world. O, how 
much to restore it from sin and disorder. May you 
not be idle, but, animated by the spirit of Christ, be ef- 
ficient in the sphere in w T hich you may be placed, and 
shine in unfading light. 

Dear J., — Farewell. That we may meet in heaven, 
though we may not on earth, is the prayer a of 

Your affectionate, though decaying 
Grandmother, in her 83d year. 

R. P. 



LETTER VIL 

TO MRS. A. G. 

My dear Madam, 

I rejoice in the information contained in your let- 
ter, that God has visited H. with the outpourings of 
his Holy Spirit ; an event so long desired by your 
worthy, but almost despairing, pastor. May the work 
go on and prosper abundantly. 

How wonderful are the condescension and grace of 
our glorious Redeemer, in arresting sinners in their 
course to ruin, and turning them into the way of life : 

12 



138 MEMOIRS' OF 

and in his attention to the support and progress of hh 
feeble and unworthy children. 

It is good to have a sense of crnr weakness 7 and ei$~ 
tire dependance on the great Head of the Church for 
grace and spiritual strength. But, oh ! our deceitful, 
unbelieving hearts I We need repentance from day 
to day, and renewed faith in the great salvation, 
wrought out for sinners. May w T e have our minds 
stayed on God. 

O* my friend ! does not your heart leap for joy, that 
we live to see the light of the present day ? May the sun 
of righteousness, who is becoming extensively visible? 
soon visit the whole earth, with divine light, and all 
the blessing of its healing influence ! May God visit 
the vine in this land, which his own right hand has 
planted, and prune and nurture it, and cause it to 
bring forth much fruit. 

In this place the people are active and eager io 
worldly affairs ; but for this reason inattentive and in- 
sensible to religious interests. Pray for us. 

God grant to you, and those dear to you, the light of 
his countenance and all needed good ; and if we should 
never again see each other in this world, may we go 
from a life of prayer to an eternity of praise. 
Believe me 

Your affectionate sister in Christ, 

R. P. 



JOtS. RUTH PATTEN* 139 

LETTER VIIL 

TO MRS. J. P« 

May 22, 1817. 
My dear Sister, 

This is the first time I have taken my pen in hand 
since I was brought to the brink of the grave by a dan- 
gerous fall Intending to go to my chamber, after 
ascending seven or eight stairs, the railing by which I 
held gave way. and I fell backward to the floor. Con- 
sidering the nature of the fall, and the injury done to 
my back and neck, it is an astonishment to all as well 
as to myself, that I was taken up alive. My reason 
was continued through the scene. 1 have since ex- 
perienced much distress ; and now, after six weeks, I 
am but just beginning to walk alone. May the name 
of the Lord be praised for his goodness in this won- 
derful interposition, and all the expressions of his 
grace. He wounded, and in a great measure has 
healed. May my breath be spent in praising him, till 
I shall be called to perform this work, without sin or 
sorrow, in the world of glory. O, my dear sister, what 
continued reason have we to live in preparation to 
obey the summons of our Lord, the time of which is 
unknown to us, and may be sudden. 

We have long hoped for an opportunity to see you 
while here ; but now it is doubtful, you are so distant, 
and the vicissitudes of time are so many and great, 
and such a mountain of difficulties lies in the way, I 
desire to bless God for the hope we have of a glorious 



140 MEMOIRS OF 

immortality; of meeting where our Saviour and our 
dear friends are gone. 

We have reason in our widowed state to notice the 
goodness and faithfulness of our covenant keeping 
God. May we ever trust with confidence in his pro- 
mises, for ourselves, our children, the dear church, and 
all that is comprised in his kingdom, persuaded that, 
as he possesses, so he will display infinite perfection. 

That God may ever bless you and your dear chil- 
dren, is the prayer of 

Your affectionate sister, 
R. P. 



LETTER IX. 

TO ONE OF HER GRANDSONS. 

My dear W. 

I hear of you frequently, and always that you are 
doing well, and increasing in respectability. But I 
am apprehensive you have mistaken your calling ; 
though yet it is not too late for me to hope you may 
change. 

A number have relinquished the profession of the 
law for the ministry, and have become eminent, the 
Lord sanctifying their attainments in that profession, 
and all their accomplishments, to this blessed work. 

Ministers and missionaries are much wanted ; of 
lawyers there is a great redundance. By engaging 
in the ministry, you would never be out of employ- 
ment, and your employment would be of the highest 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 141 

kind; and whatever your privations and sufferings 
might be, your recompense would be proportionally 
great. 

Still, my dear Son, you may serve God in the pro- 
fession in which you are ; and it is my prayer, that 
you may have grace to be faithful ; that you may pros- 
per, and be a blessing in establishing what is right f 
and vindicating the oppressed. 

Give my love to your dear family, who are included 
with yourself, in the remembrance and prayer of 
Your affectionate Grandmother, 

R.R 



LETTER X. 

TO N. P. H. 

My dear nephew, 

I wish much to know your sentiments and manner 
of life, of which, from your absence and distance from 
me, I am ignorant. 

I feel the more solicitous that your soul may be in 
health and prosper, as I stand responsible for baptis- 
mal obligations. You were committed to my care at 
a tender age, by the request of your dying mother ; 
and from this and other considerations, were much 
endeared to us. 1 endeavored to dedicate you sincerely 
to the God of your life, and the Redeemer who died to 
to save you, and to the Spirit of grace, to sanctify and 
preserve you, and prepare you for glory. And now, 
my child, remember that these vows of God are upon 

12* 



142 MEMOIRS OF 

you*. They cannot be retracted ; and I trust you do 
not wish they should be. Go on, then, in the strength 
of the Lord ; and may he strengthen and abundantly 
bless you. 

If I seem too importunate, my son, you will excuse 
it, not only from my sense of duty, but from the dan- 
gers with which you are surrounded, and my advanced 
age. 

Corrupt principles are very prevalent ; one of the 
most plausible of w T hich is, that only morality is neces- 
sary to salvation. This cannot go beyond the grave. 
At the bar of God, repentance of sin and faith in 
Christ are indispensable to acceptance. Yet these are 
productive of the strictest and purest morality ; for we 
cannot repent of sin> if we indulge one sin ; and with- 
out repentance, it is in vain to trust in Christ for par- 
don. I wish you to be moral ; but with views more 
enlarged and exalted, I pray that you may be a Chris- 
tian. 

From my advanced years, I must do what I have 
to do quickly. Soon I shall go, whence I shall not 
return ; and I would neglect no effort in my power to 
promote the best interests of my dear relatives and 
others. 

Be assured that I have ever remembered you with 
my own children, in my addresses at the throne of 
grace, that you may have the friendship of God, and 
be faithful on earth, and blessed in heaven. 
I am 
Your affectionate Grandmother, 

R. P. 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN, 143 

LETTER XL 

TO G. W. 

My dear nephew, 

What a blessing that the world is under the govern- 
ment of God, and that we know his wisdom and per- 
fection ; while it is our indispensable duty to submit to 
him, we may do it with cheerfulness, since he is, in all 
circumstances, an object of hope. 

I have been informed by Mrs. B. that the hand of 
the Lord is laid heavily upon you in taking from you the 
desire of your eyes ; and one dear, not only in your 
own sight, but in the sight of others. All natural ex- 
cellence is not too lovely to die. It is frail as the 
grass, or the flower of the field. But we rejoice in that 
moral excellence which the dear departed possessed, 
and that we may hope she has joined the spirits of the 
just made perfect, and bears her part in that song 
of praise to God and the Lamb for which eternity is 
not too long. 

If we resign ourselves, we shall resign all who are 
dear to us, all that we have into the hands of God. If 
we murmur at bereavements or losses, it is an evi- 
dence we have not devoted ourselves to God. May 
we comply with this duty, and have that peace which 
passeth all understanding. 

My family sympathize with you, and send their love. 
Do write soon to 

Your affectionate Aunt, 
R.P. 



144 MEMOIRS OF 

LETTER XII. 

TO W. P. 

Sept. 25, 1831. 
My very dear Son, 

I was contemplating earnestly to request you 
to come and see what happiness we were enjoy- 
ing in temporal and spiritual blessings. But the 
great and wise Dispenser of all events has seen fit to 
bring a new affliction upon us, by calling your sister R. 
into a trying scene, from a fall which endangers her 
limb, and even her life. 

God has doubtless some important purpose to an- 
swer by this peculiar dispensation, that our Christian 
graces, if any we have, may be made manifest, and I 
humbly trust the result will prove, that this desirable 
effect is not wholly unaccomplished. 

Oct. 4. 

I began this letter when your sister's state was 
alarming, and concluded not to finish it till some more 
decided opinion could be formed. I think she has 
been enabled to exercise faith and patience, wonder- 
fully. The physician says she is doing well, and as- 
cribes this almost miraculous recovery, under Provi- 
dence, to temperance ; he says she is just 25. 

We are favored with a very interesting and hopeful- 
ly pious young physician from New York, Dr. K. He 
is very patient and gentle ; and sometimes, when, 
with him, we view the injured ancle, he points out the 
operation of nature in the tendency of the severed parts 
to unite, and perform their accustomed functions. 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 145 

Truly we " are fearfully and wonderfully made ; and 
that, our souls know right well. What shall we ren- 
der to the Lord for all his benefits. We will take the 
cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord. 
We will will pay the vows which our souls made when 
we were in trouble." 

We always rejoice to hear any thing to the comfort 
and advantage of yourself, your family, or people ; are 
glad an addition is to be made to your church. " May 
it be increased, with all the increase of God-" O that 
those who have remained blind and insensible under 
the means of grace, might awake and be converted. 
Then my aged eyes, which are filled with tears of 
sorrow for their perilous state, would weep for joy, at 
their having " passed from death to life/' — that they 
are " no more conformed to the world, but transform- 
ed by the renewing of their mind, proving what is 
that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." 

God grant you may be faithful and abundantly suc- 
cessful ; may he lift the light of his countenance upon 
you, and give you peace. So prays 

Your aged, but not forgetful mother, 

R. P. 



LETTER XIII. 

TO G. W. 



My dear Nephew, 
May your trials yield unto you the peaceable fruits 
of righteousness. May you be brought more and more 



146 MEMOIRS OF 

to live on God as your portion, and to him as the object 
of your existence. 

The sources of happiness in God are boundless. If 
our hearts are right with him ; if we read his word 
with understanding, if we pray in faith, we shall find 
him always near, a present help, and shall partake of 
the fulness of joy. 

But O, our unbelieving hearts ! what torrents of sin 
flow from them, ready to overwhelm us and sweep us 
away ! Truly we are without hope, unless from the 
grace of Christ, his sanctifying spirit, his atoning blood, 
his all perfect righteousness. Blessed be his name, 
that we may look to him, assured that he is willing, 
and able, to do all that in us, and for us, that we 
need. 

I have had many distressing scenes in my walk, thus 
far, through this wilderness ; more than I can enume- 
rate. But 1 must confess, that I have had a faithful, 
covenant keeping God at my right hand, to whom I 
know by experience, that if we commit all our con- 
cerns, in a child-like temper, w T e need not fear. 

The time of our trial is short, — but a few years. May 
we be patient unto the end. May we " do what our 
hands find to do, with our might ; for in the grave, to 
which we hasten, there is no wisdom, nor device, nor 
work, nor knowledge." 

May we be faithful, and finally found of our God in 
peace, prays 

Your affectionate Aunt, 

R. P. 



MRS. RUTH PATTEN. 147 

LETTER XIV. 

TO REV. W. A. 

March 28, 1830, 
Worthy and dear sir, 

We received your very refreshing letter, for which 
we return you our grateful acknowledgments. We 
never needed consolation more. Though the good- 
ness of God, through all our trials, has been very great, 
1 trust we have found, in some good measure, by ex- 
perience, the fulfilment of those great and precious 
promises, which you so kindly recommend to our 
consideration ; and we humbly pray that you, dear 
sir, may be comforted of God with the same comfort 
wherewith you have been enabled to comfort those 
who were in trouble. 

It is ? indeed, peculiarly consoling, that our heavenly 
father does not " infuse a single needless ingredient of 
bitterness in the cup he giveth his children to drink. 5 ' 

Forever blessed be the Lord for the wonders of re- 
deeming love, and for the rich variety of blessings 
which we enjoy, in consequence thereof. May all 
that appertain to our dear families, be partakers of 
that " fulness of joy, and those pleasures forevermore ? 
that flow at God's right hand. • 

We were much gratified to hear from the habita- 
tion of my dear and honored father, and from the silent 
abode of my beloved and honored mother. Though 
but four years old when she died, I recollect many 
things respecting her, which have proved beneficial to 
me through life. It is probable that your dear offspring 



148 MEMOIRS OF 

maybe able to say the same, many years hence, of 
their dear departed mother. 

Let us praise God, my dear sir, for the great bless- 
ing of hope. May we patiently and prayerfully wait 
for the salvation of God ; not seeking great things here 
below, for ourselves, or dear ones. Has not God said, 
" Seek them not.' 5 Riches oftener prove a curse, than 
a blessing, to their possessors. From my own obser- 
vation, through a long course of years, and the concur- 
rence of others, I have reason to believe the state- 
ment correct 

For several days, as strength would permit, I have 
been penning these lines. It may be the last commu- 
nication you will receive from me. Should I be so 
happy as to reach the heavenly shore, shall I not bear 
the gladsome tidings, that you are daily growing in 
grace, and training up your dear children in the nur- 
ture and admonition of the Lord, heirs of an" inherit- 
ance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth 
not away V and that the dear Seminary, under your 
faithful guidance, is rapidly increasing in knowledge, 
human and divine, and that from this fountain, are flow- 
ing " streams that make glad the city of our God ?" 

And now, my dear sir, farewell. " The Lord bless 
you, and keep you ; lift up the light of his countenance 
upon you, and give you peace," prays 

Your aged and decaying 

friend, of 90 years, 

R. P. 



ERRATA. 

Page 29, line 4, for The read Her, 

50, 4i 17, after in, insert her. 

65, " 18, after appear, add, to the soul 

69, " 24, for these, read those. 

81, " fj. for insensible, read speechless , 

93, " z0, for distracted, read distorted, 

99 " 4, for rocZ, read 7'oo£. 

" " 8, for deiu, read fcoiu. 

* : " 11 & 13, for these, read those. 

100 " 1, for trust, read /tost 

105 " 15, omit the word not, 

121 M 23, for in, read cm. 



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